Freelancer Sisters
by venom rules all
Summary: Pyrrha was born as the younger sister of one of the best soldiers Project Freelancer has ever produced. Wanting to follow her sister's footsteps, Pyrrha becomes a Freelancer as well. But will it be worth it in the end?
1. Chapter 1

**The sister is born.**

Leonard Church, a man with a strong ambition. He enlisted into the UNSC. However, it became clear early on that he was not really cut out to be a soldier. Made clear after he picked a fight with one of his fellow trainess during basic training. Leonard was badly beaten by his rival, due to his lack of any real combat skills. But a woman named Allison came to Leonard's aid and pummeled the other man in defense of Leonard who couldn't even fight back at that point. Leonard quickly grows infatuated with Allison and the two began a romantic relationship, eventually getting married and giving birth to a little girl, Carolina.

However, Carolina would not be their only child, as during one of Allison's rare breaks from active duty, they concived another child. And after nine months, another healthy and beutiful little girl would be born. Arriving home late, Allison sat on her bed with her new baby girl in her arms. She looked exarly like Carolina did when she was born, dark hair which would eventually turn red, and beautiful green eyes.

Allison heard someone at the door and looked up to see her first born peeking inside, making her smile "It's OK, sweetie. Come and say hello to your little sister".

A five year old Carolina walks in to the room and jumps in to the bed before looking at the baby in her mother's arms "She... is my sister?".

"Yes. Her name is Pyrrha" Allison said.

"Still curious why you went with that name" Leonard said as he entered the room, having just finished a call with the hospital.

"It's Greek. It roghly translates to Flame-Colored. And I have a feeling se will grow from this little flame, to a red hot fire" Allison explained.

"You are so strange at times" Leonard said with a small chuckle as he sat next to his wife and looked at his new baby girl "But I guess I can see where you got the idea from".

"Can... I hold her?" Carolina asked shyly.

Allison and Leonard chared a quick look before Allison gently placed Pyrrha in to Carolina's arms, after showing how to hold her properly, Carolina gently held her younger sister in her arms, looking at her cute little face. Pyrrha opened her eyes and looked in to Carolina's green eyes with her own.

Carolina couldn't help but to smile at her "Hello Pyrrha... I am your big sister".

Pyrrha let out a baby sound, before reaching up with her small hand and grabbed Carolina's nose, making her yelp and causing both their parents to laugh at the sisterly bond. Still, despite the comical first meeting between the sisters, it was clear they would grow close while growing up.

One year later, when Carolina was six and only a week after Pyrrha turned one, Allison had to leave to help fight in the war. Sad as it was, she never once said goodbye to anyone. But she did make sure to tell Carolina something that would stick with her the rest of her life: Never say goodbye. If you don't say 'goodbye,' then you aren't really gone. You...just aren't here right now.

After saying a few words to Leonard, Allison took her leave, but not before promising him they would see each other again... a promise she would not be able to keep. As time passed, the Church family received the tragic news that Allison was declared KIA in the war. Something that sent Leonard in to deep depression, and even leading him to start paying less and less attention to his daughters.

His major change in demeanor had a major effect on Carolina, who became dead set on winning his approval. Once she was old enough, she began to train, hoping to become a perfect soldier, just like her mother was. Carolina would've been mostly alone, if not for the other remaining member of her family: Pyrrha.

Allison died when Pyrrha was to young to properly remember her, so she mostly grew up with Carolina. In fact, Carolina was pretty much the one who raised her, since their father never did more than needed. Once old enough, Pyrrha wanted to repay Carolina's kindness, and began training herself, hoping she would eb able to keep up with her older sister, and even help her, should the need arrive.

Pyrrha worked hard to catch up with Carolina, but no matter how hard she tried, she always found herself simply chasing after her sister, but never reaching her. She watched Carolina train, taking in every detail of her sister's methods and did her best to mimic them.

Right now, a teenage Pyrrha was training her muscles, lifting heavy weights that normally would be way to heavy for someone her age. But she didn't care, she wanted to become stronger, even if it meant doing dangerous exercises. She pushed the weights up and down, her arms straining with each push, it hurt like hell, but Pyrrha fought through it. But ignoring pain was not always a good idea. The body feels pain for a reason, and if the training starts to hurt this much, it is trying to tell you that it was time for a break. But Pyrrha was to stubborn to listen to that advice.

"Come on! Just a few more!" Pyrrha said as she pushed up the weight one more... but then, something bad happened.

Her arms suddenly gave out, the metal rod slammed in to her chest and the weights kept in in place. Pyrrha gasped and coughed in surprise. She tried to push the weights of, but her arms refused to respond. She trashed around and kicked out with her legs, trying desperately to het the weight of. But it was no use, she was completely pinned. It was getting harder and harder to breath, and Pyrrha's panic was rising. In the end she decided to do something she hoped she would never need to do again.

"H-Help! Someone help! I-I'm stuck! I'M STUCK!" Pyrrha cried out in panic, feeling like the would suffocate on the spot.

She heard running footsteps, followed by an familiar voice "Pyrrha!? What the hell are you doing!?".

Carolina rushed up to Pyrrha and removed the weights on one side, allowing the rest to fall of. Pyrrha gasped and coughed, as air filled her lungs again, and she was able to sit up. Carolina rubbed her back while noticing the bruises on Pyrrha's arms and chest, as well as the weights she had been trying to push up. They were way to heavy and dangerous to risk a long training with.

"What the hell were you thinking, Pyrrha? You could've broken your arms!" Carolina scolded.

Pyrrha let a sob escape her mouth as tears formed in her eyes "I'm sorry... It's just... you are working so hard to become strong, and you've done more for me than our father ever did. I just wanted to be strong too. Strong enough to keep up with you and be there when you need me. Like how you were here when I needed you. But you were so far ahead of me, I thought I had to train even harder than you did if I was going to have any chance of catching up to you".

Carolina was silent for a moment before she pulled Pyrrha in to a hug "Why didn't you just tell me? I could've helped you".

Pyrrha cried softly in to Carolina's shoulder "You are already working so hard... I didn't want to be a burden. I wanted to stand by your side as an equal, worthy of your pride".

Carolina understood what Pyrrha meant by that, Pyrrha was trying to do the same thing for Carolina as she was doing for their father. Trying to become stronger and gain approval "Pyrrha... you don't need to hurt yourself like this to make me proud. I am not training just so I can gain father's approval again. I am also training so I can protect you".

"But that's my point. I don't want to have to be protected. I want to become stronger so you won't need to worry about me anymore. I want to stand by your side, not behind you" Pyrrha said.

"I understand that, Pyrrha. But hurting yourself will not make your stronger. Look, how about you train with me from now on?" Carolina suggested.

Pyrrha looked surprised "What? But I will only slow you down".

"Not if I make sure you can keep up. Having someone to train with could help us both grow stronger a lot faster" Carolina explained before rubbing Pyrrha's bruised arm "And this way, I can keep a closer eye on you, and make sure you don't try anything that dangerous again".

Pyrrha was silent for a moment before she finally smiled again "Thank you... Bis sister".

Carolina smiled back "Come on, let's get you washed up and ready for a full night sleep. Tomorrow, your training with me begins".

Pyrrha nods and allows Carolina help her to the shower room. The following years, Pyrrha and Carolina would train together very closely. In time, their father started a program called: Project Freelancer. A research program set up to create the perfect soldiers. Leonard would end up becoming the director of the project and had full authority over everyone working within it. And his two daughters would become two of the agents.

* * *

"Agent Greece... Agent Greece!" A voice spoke up, making Pyrrha snap her eyes open.

Pyrrha was no longer a teenager, but a young adult. She joined the project along with her sister, where they were given code names. All agents of Project Freelancer was named after countries and cities and were to be called by their code names at all times, in order to keep their true identities secret. Pyrrha was given the code name Agent Greece, which she assumed was because of her Greek name.

"Yes sir?" Pyrrha said after gathering herself.

"The Director has demanded the presence of all agents. It's time for another mission" Counselor Aiden Price said in a calm and to the point tone.

Pyrrha stood up and put on her helmet "Understood".

"Are you sure you are alright, Agent Greece? Or should I inform the Director you require another session before being sent out?" The Counselor asked.

The Counselor was the right hand of the Director himself. But he also acted as the therapist to the Freelancer agents. Pyrrha had been through several sessions with him already, since her new position put a lot of stress on her. But she didn't want to go through another one, and just wanted to get of the ship for a bit.

"Thank you, sir. But I believe I can make it" Pyrrha said.

"Very well then. But remember to come see me if there is anything else troubling you" The Counselor said calmly.

"I will, thank you sir" Pyrrha said before walking away.

This would be her first mission for a long time and she wanted to make sure she did it right.

**.**

**And here is the first chapter of my new story. This is not the first time I've tried making a Red Vs Blue X RWBY crossover. Nor is it the first time I've tried to make a story where Pyrrha and Carolina are sisters. The first time I tried this, I had it take place in the RWBY world. Sadly, it was back in my early days of writing, it had a ton of flaws and trying to fix it would take more effort than I was willing to put in to a failed story.**

**But I still loved the idea of Pyrrha and Carolina being sisters since they have a lot in common.**

**Red Hair.**

**Green Eyes.**

**Best fighters of their team.**

**Strong on the outside, but hides a lot of pain on the inside.**

**Strives to become the best they can be.**

**And they are both voiced by Jen Brown.**

**So now I am completely rebooting the idea. This time I will have it take place in the Red Vs Blue world. Also I'm sure there will be questions, so I will answer some of them right now.**

**Will there be more RWBY characters in the future?: The Answer is Yes. There will be more RWBY characters down the line, but since this is the Red Vs Blue world, there will be some major changes to a lot of them.**

**Will this story include the Red and Blue team, or mainly focus on Project Freelancer?: The anser is, It will mainly focus on Project Freelancer. The Freelancer story was my favorite part of the entire Red Vs Blue series. While it is fun to see the Red and Blues being idiots from time to time, the Freelancer arc just brought a whole lot more depth to the story, and Freelancer's themselves were very interesting characters.**

**.**

**With that out of the way, tell me what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

**The mission.**

The director is standing in front of a screen, waiting for everything to be ready. This mission was important, if it failed, things would get annoying. The Counselor walked up to him, with his Data-Pad in hands.

"Our operatives are in position Director" He said.

The Director nods "Good. Send them in".

The Counselor activates a holographic map "If I may say, sir. My testing indicates that this might not be the best team for the job. Not to mention I am still not convinced of Agent Greece being ready for this".

"The system will determine what's best Counselor. This system will determine the order. And the system will determine who is ready. Send them in" The Director ordered.

* * *

Meanwhile, Pyrrha was ready to head out. She looked at her large combat knife for a moment before letting out a sigh and put it in it's holder.

"Nervous?" Pyrrha looked behind her and saw Carolina.

"A little, I guess" Pyrrha said.

"Try to be calm, Pyrrha. If the others do their part, we might not need to be sent in at all" Carolina said.

"Do you really think it will be that easy?" Pyrrha asked.

Carolina was silent for a moment "No... no I don't. But you need to keep your head in the game. The Director will not go easy on you if anything goes wrong".

"I know sis... I know" Pyrrha said, doing her best to hold back the bite in her tone. Let's just say her relationship with her father was not what it used to be.

* * *

Elsewhere, two soldiers, Scully and Murphy, were patrolling.

"Christ is it cold or what?" Scully asked

"Uh huh" Murphy agreed.

"How cold do you think it is? It has to be at least below freezing, right?" Scully asked.

"Well, there's ice. So, yeah. Freezing" Murphy said.

"Patrolling in the ice. Give me a fucking break. You know who doesn't have to patrol in the middle of the night, in the ice?" Scully asked.

"I'm sure you'll tell me" Murphy said, making no effort to hide that he was not interested.

"Jenkins. I bet Jenkins is sleeping right now. Back in his rack, with his big fucking melonhead on a soft pillow" Scully said, annoyed.

Murphy nods "Yeah, that's Jenkins".

"You know I had terminal duty 8 weeks straight? 8 weeks man!" Scully said.

"Well lucky you" Murphy said sarcastically, clearly not caring about the story.

"And then I make one fucking comment about the CO to Jenkins" Scully said.

"Uh huh that's great" Murphy said, still not paying attention.

"And the next thing you know I'm out on patrol" Scully said.

Murphy is suddenly pulled up from his neck is by a rope.

"And then Jenkins gets my next terminal duty. And I get to freeze my ass off out here with... Murphy? Come on Murphy. Hey where are ya? Murph. Stop messing around Murph. Murph" Scully pulls out his pistol and looks for Murphy.

"Yeah, in here. Thought I heard something" Came the voice of Murphy.

Scully holsters his pistol "Oh yeah? Whatcha hear, a ghost?".

Scully chuckles to himself and walks in the room. He looks down and sees a pool of blood. He looks up and sees Murphy hanging from above, dead.

"Yeah, I guess you could say something like that" South Dakota, one of the freelancers said before she hits Scully in the neck and knocks him over the platform, causing him to fall to his death "Hey we clear?".

Her twin brother, North Dakota is camping on top of a smokestack "Yes South you're clear but watch your corners. This smoke is good for cover but it's playing hell with my thermals. And the cold isn't helping".

"What's the time?" South asked.

"Don't worry about the time. Worry about the objective. Next patrol is in twenty seconds" North said.

"Huh, I'll be gone before that" South said with confidence.

"Ok, slow it down South. Set your motion trackers" North said.

South hops down onto a soldier's back and kills him; taking his weapon in the process "Nah, takes too long".

"So does getting caught. Set your trackers" North ordered as South enters a building containing many guards "South! I do not have visual in there. I can't be your eyes if I can't see".

"Just trust me North, I got this" South said as she stealthy sneaks past the guards.

"South, talk to me" North said.

"Not right now North. I see the objective, going to initiate transfer" South whispers as she slides a data key into a machine.

"While it's loading set your goddamn tracker" North ordered, almost sounding annoyed "There's bound to be some... South I've got something odd on thermal. Two small dots".

"Come on, come on" South said.

"South! Check your six! I think something's in there" North said.

South turns around and points her pistol at a soldier carrying two cups of coffee. The soldier notices an alarm lever next to him "Don't even think about it".

After swerving his head at South and the alarm, the soldier runs to the alarm. South quickly shoots him, causing the soldier's body to fall towards the alarm.

"Aww shit. It's about to get loud" South said as she quickly grabbed the data key. The body hits the alarm and it begins to blare.

"On my way!" North jumps off the smokestack and smashes two soldier's heads together "Well, so much for keeping quiet. South! meet me at the helipad for extraction".

"Roger. Might need a minute" South said.

South runs past three guards and quickly executes them with some fast hand to hand moves. She jumps off a platform and is soon cornered by three more soldiers. She fires at them & runs forward, kicking two backward and shooting one in the head. She punches one of the remaining soldiers and breaks his leg. She tosses him towards the other remaining soldier and kicks the soldier in face, smashing in a locker. South, then again, becomes surrounded, until North appears, firing sniper. North fires his SMG right into a soldier's stomach.

"Shotgun!" South shouts.

North cocks the shotgun, then tosses it to South "Catch!".

South catches the shotgun and decapitates a soldier with it "Thanks!".

North and South take cover as a sniper starts shooting at them.

"Sniper! Top of that building!" South shouts.

North got ready "Switch on my mark. Sync?".

"Sync!" South confirms

"Mark!" North said as the two switch positions.

South grabs a soldier's body "Moving!".

"Go go go!" North urged. South runs to the building where the sniper is, using the body as a shield "Watch your left!".

North and South shoots down the sniper along with many other soldiers.

"Get the door, I'll hold them off" North ordered.

South quickly opens the door "We're good, let's move".

The two pass through the door and run to the landing pad, executing every soldier in their way.

"Switch!" North said as they perform a team maneuver that successfully creates some breathing room from all the soldiers "Move!".

They reach the landing pad, and then notice the soldiers surrounding them. Much to South's annoyance "Oh come on".

Back on the ship, the Operator reported on what was happening "Situation is critical sir. Should we do something?".

"Yes. Send them in" The Director said.

"Roger that. Come in Number One you and your back up are both green" The Operator said.

"Activate fail-safe" The Director ordered.

"Copy sir. Initiating beta protocol" The Operator said.

Back on the platforms, North and South had no way to go. There were a lot more soldiers than even they could handle.

"Well, out of the frying pan and into the fire" North commented.

"Eh, think I could take about 50 of 'em. How 'bout you?" South asked.

"How about you save your jokes until we get out of this?" North suggested

"Where the hell is extraction?!" South demanded.

The leading soldier finally spoke "Attention assholes, stand down! You're surrounded! Give us the data file now! You will be taken into custody! We can do this the easy way or the hard way! There is no escape, so give us the damn data file!".

But as he was speaking he didn't notice Carolina was sneaking behind the soldiers, camouflaged in the background. She then attacks the soldiers, using quick kicks and punches to overwhelm them, including the commanding soldier. She then grabs the turret and shoots a support beam, causing the platform, and the soldiers standing on it, to fall.

"Get down!" North grabs South and shields her with his body. The two then get up and look at Carolina attacking the soldiers.

On the other side, Pyrrha quickly jumped on to a soldier's shoulders, before using her legs to throw him in to another one. She moved between their bullets and struck one in the chest with her palm, sending him flying in to his comrades behind him. She then delivered a quick kick to an soldier behind her, making him fly back too.

"Son of a bitch" North said.

"Whats going on?" South asked.

"It's them" North answered.

"What? What's she doing here?" South demanded more than asked, since this was meant to be her and her brother's mission.

Carolina back-flips down to North and South, her colors changing from black to a light blue color, leaving a spinning turret to kill soldiers "Okay, our turn. Greece!".

Pyrrha broke of from the enemies and jumped at Carolina. They grabbed each other's hands and Carolina began spinning Pyrrha around as Pyrrha kicked several soldiers with both her feet. Carolina then threw her in to the air, causing several of the soldiers to look up, and the distraction allowed Caroline and the twins to attack them before they could react.

A soldier looking for a gun while the chaos ensues behind him "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. Oh, yes! A rifle! I'm saved!".

He began firing randomly as another solider runs up to him "Uh, hey man. Uh, I hate to bother you but I think that's my rifle you're holding".

"What the hell are you talking about? Just grab any rifle! Like look at that, there is seriously a pile of rifles..." The first soldier said.

"No, that's my good luck rifle. That's the one I sleep with every night" The second one said.

"Are you kidding me, man?!" The first one said before South kicks the two off the platform.

As the Freelancers fight, the commander gets back on his turret and aims it at South. Seeing this, North quickly moves to help his sister.

"South, look out!" North pushes her out of the way and gets shot several times in the chest and visor.

"North! No!" South shouts.

Carolina fires a grapling hook at the turret. She pulls it and the turret smacks the soldier in the face and fires beneath him, collapsing the catwalk beneath them. Most of the soldiers fall, but the Demo Man falls on a ledge jutting out under the catwalk, and attempts to get up. South is helping North walk towards the edge.

"I got you. Move" She tosses North against the railing. The twins then both fire their weapons at the remaining soldiers "Come in, command! We have wounded, you need to get us out of here right now!".

"I think it's time to leave, Carolina" Pyrrha said, earning a nod from her sister.

"Come on you two. We're leaving" Carolina said as she tosses herself, North, and South over the edge, with Pyrrha quickly jumped after them and they land on the roof of a pelican "Sorry about the mess, fellas. Package is secure. Everybody on board".

Carolina climbs down a ladder leading into the Pelican's troop bay. She enters the cockpit and climbs into the co-pilot's seat "Somebody call for a ride?".

"You're late" Carolina said.

"Ah well, you can take it out of my tip" The Pilot said.

"Really? Because you already owe me a lot" Pyrrha reminded.

"Yeah yeah, shut up and sit down" The Pilot said. They fly off in the pelican and the base explodes behind them.

"Incoming transmission" Came a female voice.

"I got it, this is vehicle Four Seven Niner, go for secure" Carolina said.

"Secure, hello Agent Carolina" F.I.L.S.S said.

"Good morning, F.I.L.S.S. Nice to hear your voice" Carolina said.

"Is this a bad time? You sound, occupied" F.I.L.S.S said.

"The LZ got a little... hot. We may be late for the rendezvous, but we'll get there. Don't leave without us" Carolina said.

"Understood, it sounds like the Director was right to send you and your sister along to assist the teams" F.I.L.S.S said.

Carolina nods at that "Seems that way, can't say everyone on board feels the same".

"All Agents accounted for, excellent work" F.I.L.S.S praised.

"F.I.L.S.S, I see a blank spot in the head count. Please verify" Carolina said.

"We will see you at the rendezvous, Agent Carolina. Fly safe, and have a nice day" F.I.L.S.S said.

"Wait, F.I.L.S.S. Who won the match last night?" Pyrrha asked.

"Sorry, Agent Greece. Team JNPR lost pretty badly" F.I.L.S.S answered.

Pyrrha growled under her helmet "Oh for fu-".

Carolina cut her of "Roger that, Carolina out. South, check our six".

South looked outside "Heads up, we've got company back here".

Two Longswords fly behind the Pelican and the Pilot asked "Who are your friends?".

"Just some people we met at the party" Carolina answered.

"They seem nice" The Pilot said as the Longswords open fire on the Pelican, while she maneuvers around them.

"Nice moves, firing missiles" Carolina fires some missiles, but the Longswords evade them with ease.

"Can't you get us out of here?!" South demanded.

"I'm working on it" The Pilot said before the lock on light begins beeping.

"What's that noise?" South asked.

"They have missile lock" The Pilot said.

"That's bad" South said.

"Yeah, that's bad" The Pilot said, starting to get annoyed.

"Take evasive maneuvers!" South ordered.

The Pilot was losing patience "I'm trying".

"Well, try harder!" South demanded.

"Hey South? Do me a favor, would ya?" The Pilot said

South looked at her "What?".

The Pilot seals the door to the loading dock "Thanks".

"You stupid bitch!" South shouted.

"South, losing your temper will not help us. Calm down" Pyrrha said.

"I am perfectly calm!" South snapped. The Longswords fire their missiles at the Pelican and The Pilot fires off flares to deter the missiles, but still ends up getting hit "I hate flying!".

The Pelican was shaking a lot and Pyrrha quickly caught South before she could hit her head "You OK?".

"I'm fine" South said before noticing North was beginning to regain consciousness.

"Check on your brother, I think I can deal with the missiles" Pyrrha said said as she began making her way out.

"What are you doing?! Pyrrha get back inside!" South shouted after her.

Pyrrha climbed on to the roof of the Pelican and as several more missiles heading towards her. Time to give her armor ability a test run. She waited until the missiles were close enough before unleashing a magnetic wave, which messed up their targeting and causing them to fall down.

"Holly crap it worked" Pyrrha said to herself.

"There's the rendezvous point, if we're gonna make it, you better punch it" Carolina told the pilot before contacting Pyrrha with a sharp tone "And you little sister, get your ass inside right now!".

Pyrrha gulped, she was so getting lectured for this. But then a yellow beam is shot in the distance, destroying one of the Longswords. The clouds begin to clear, revealing the UNSC Frigate Mother of Invention, which fires off another beam from where the MAC would be, destroying the other fleeing Longsword.

Pyrrha was relieved that they made it in time... now she just had to deal with the aftermath. Later everyone gathered inside the control room as the Mother of Invention flew in to space. And the Director was debriefing everyone on the mission. North was recovering well after some medical attention.

"The data you recovered has pinpointed the location of a very important target for Project Freelancer. Excellent work" The Director said, sounding pleased.

"Thank you, sir!" The freelancers said.

"Counselor, please update the board" The director ordered and the Counselor uses his handheld pad to move North up to 4 on the board and South down to 5 "That is all. Dismissed".

South, in shock, rips off her helmet "I thought you said the mission was a success, Sir?".

"One of the mission objectives was stealth. Your carelessness revealed our intention and made our next mission more difficult. They'll be ready for us. Dismissed" The Director ordered.

South angrily walks to the door. Pyrrha gave her a worried look.

"Think I should talk to her?" Carolina asked.

South punches the door control panel, causing it to break and fall off the wall after walking out of the room. Pyrrha gulped "Yeah, maybe you should hold of on that idea, sis".

"Agreed, we should give her a minute" North agreed.

As the rest got ready to leave, the Director spoke "Hold on, Agent Greece. I'd like a word with you, in privet".

Pyrrha and Carolina shared a look before the older sister spoke "Sir, you sure I shouldn't stay and-".

"You are dismissed, Agent Carolina. This only concerns your sister" The Director said, his tone leaving no room for arguments.

Carolina sighed, knowing there was nothing she could do after that. She put a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder before leaving the room. Pyrrha had a feeling what this was about, but she wanted to make sure.

"Sir, if this about me using my armor ability without permission, I-" She began but was interrupted.

"No, this is not about that. If anything I should praise you for a successful field test" The Director said before walking up to her "This is about something a lot more serious. Take of your helmet, Agent" Pyrrha did as ordered and her father continued "You didn't use any lethal force against the enemy".

Pyrrha did her best to keep her calm, but the intense look from her father made it hard "Sir I-".

"This is not a lecture I should have to give you, Agent Greece. Your fighting skills almost matches Carolina. But your soft heart is the reason you are not in the top 5 yet. There is no room for mercy on a battlefield" The Director said.

"But... without mercy, what will I become?" Pyrrha asked.

"A good soldier. You need to learn this, or there is no place for you here. Is that clear?" The Director said harshly.

"Yes... sir..." Pyrrha said, struggling with keeping her anger in check.

"Good. You are dismissed" The Director said before going back to look at the leader-board.

Pyrrha left the room and walked down the hallway for a bit... before stopping and with a frustrated shout she punched the wall hard enough to dent it. Ever since her mom died, her father had changed to a man she could no longer recognize... and she hated it.

**.**

**Tell me what you think.**


	3. Chapter 3

**The Line.**

After her lecture from the Director, Pyrrha walked down the halls, still worked up from what her father said to her. She hated that being merciful made her less of a soldier in his eyes. Is there really no other way to win a battle than to kill everyone in her path. She sighed, feeling the strong urge to release some stress. She spotted South, who still looked to be beyond pissed from her own lecture, due to blowing her cover during the mission. An action that got her demoted. It was easy to see why she was mad.

"Hey, South" Pyrrha said.

South looked at her "Whatever you want Pyrrha, I am not in the mood".

"Relax, I know you are still mad. I figured I could help you get some of the anger out" Pyrrha said.

South seemed a little surprised "Pyrrha, I am pissed as hell right now, but that dosen't mean I am going to use you as a punching bag".

Pyrrha could not help but to let out a small chuckle at that "What made you think I was going to just stand still and let you hit me? I mean we could have a spar. I too need to relieve some stress. Carolina is busy, and you are one of my best friends here, so it's only logical to ask you".

South was silent for a moment "Fine, but don't cry if you get hurt".

"I won't. And we are sparring outside our armors. It's simpler that way".

"If you say so" South said before they went to one of the many training rooms of the ship. The biggest one was always used for armor enhancement training, so Pyrrha and South used a smaller one, that was more fitting for un-armored training.

Later, they were out of armor, wearing common work out clothes. Minus the shoes as they were both barefoot. They stood in front of each other, both in their fighting stance. Pyrrha's hand to hand combat may not be as advanced as her sister, and she was more comfortable with a bladed weapon in her hand. But she could still hold her own against most. With that, they began their spar. South threw a couple of punches, which Pyrrha blocked and she retaliated with a couple of kicks, which South managed to block.

South threw a fast and hard punch, which Pyrrha dodged, before countering with a left hook, but South grabbed her fist before she managed to get behind her and pushed her forward. Pyrrha quickly regained her balance before keeping the charging South back with a swift kick. South was forced to block it, but the force made her stumble back a bit. Pyrrha then threw several quick punches, but South managed to block all of them, before landing a kick to Pyrrha side, making her back away.

"Stop holding back" South demanded.

Pyrrha blinked "What do you mean?".

"I know you are not as skilled a Carolina, but I know you are better than this. Don't go easy on me just because I am mad" South said.

"I don't want to hurt you" Pyrrha said.

South rolled her eyes "I am not a little kid, Pyrrha. stop holding back and take this seriously".

Pyrrha sighed before getting back in to her stance "Alright, if that's what you want".

South narrowed her eyes before attacking again, only this time Pyrrha landed a swift counter to South's gut. South ignored the small pain as she threw a kick, but Pyrrha grabbed her foot and pushed her back, forcing South to roll across the ground to get back on her feet. Pyrrha blocks a jab and then dodges all the kicks South follows through with. South switches to punches, but Pyrrha is too on point for her. While she uses her left hand to block an elbow thrust, Pyrrha has garbed her arm and pulled it forward. The position puts South in the position of having her balance rely on the weight of one leg. With a swift move, Pyrrha sends South on her back, making her let out a quick cry of surprise.

She groans a little before she tries to stand up before a hand was put on her chest, keeping her pinned. She looked up to see Pyrrha pulling back her free hand, ready for a finishing blow. But the blow never came as Pyrrha relaxed her stance.

"You told me not to hold back" Pyrrha said as she stopp up and offered South a helping hand up, South was about to refuse it, but Pyrrha was not having it "Don't be sore about this, South".

South glared before she sighs and allowed Pyrrha to help her up "You are to nice sometimes".

"One of us has to be. Come on, let's hit the showers" Pyrrha said as she began to walk away.

However, South was not ready to accept defeat just yet. With Pyrrha having dropped her guard, South took the chance to try to tackle her from behind. Only to somehow end up on the floor, with Pyrrha putting her in to an arm lock. How did she move that fast? South didn't even have the chance to react before she was on the ground. Pyrrha really was the sister of the number one Freelancer.

"Sorry, South. But I'm ready for surprise attacks too" Pyrrha said before getting of South and pulled her back up "Better luck next time. Now, time for the showers".

South sighed, but this time she did follow Pyrrha. In the women's shower room, both women were washing of under the water. They stood by opposite walls, far enough to avoid getting in the way of each other, but close enough to talk. As South was washing of, she looked at Pyrrha as there was something she wanted to ask her about ever since Pyrrha suggested they sparred together.

"Tell me Pyrrha. Why did you want to spar?" South asked.

Pyrrha washed her shoulder "Is it so strange that I just wanted to train a little with my best friend?".

"Even best friends needs reasons to do stuff like that together. You said you wanted to relieve stress. So what got you so worked up? You know why I was pissed, but you never lose your cool unless it's really serious" South said as she washed of her leg.

Pyrrha sighed at that "There is no getting around that sharp eye of yours. Fa... the Director, asked me to stay after everyone left".

South looked back at her, now she was really curious "Why? Did he praise you for making up for my failure?".

Pyrrha shook her head "He scolded me for not using lethal force".

South blinked before it dawned on her "Now that I think of it, you didn't kill a single one of the enemies".

"Nope. And The Director didn't like it. He more or less told me I could get kicked out of Project Freelancer if I didn't start killing people" Pyrrha said, still unhappy about that her own father scolded her for refusing to kill.

"Why don't you kill? I mean sure, killing is not fun or anything, but in a battle between life of death, it's either them or us. You know this Pyrrha" South said.

Pyrrha took a deep breath "I know that...".

South kept looking at her "Then why don't you-".

"Because it helps me remember I am still human!" Pyrrha said, doing her best to keep herself from shouting.

South looked surprised "What does that mean?".

Pyrrha was shaking a little "I joined the project to stay close to Carolina, I didn't want to lose contact with her. But despite how similar we are, I am not like her. She is willing to do whatever it takes to succeed, even if it means killing our enemies. But I am not like that. I am afraid of killing, I fear that if I start killing, I will stop being a human, and instead, I become little more than a weapon. Just a bullet to be aimed at the enemy. But I don't want to be a weapon, I want to be a person. That is why I don't kill, because I feel that every time I take a life, I lose a part of my humanity".

South was utterly baffled by Pyrrha's logic. She wanted to be a good soldier, but she didn't want to kill because she feared for her humanity? That is something South couldn't begin to understand. She and Pyrrha had been friends ever since they met, which says a lot since South don't normally make a lot of friends. She knew Pyrrha was naive. But if she kept this up, she would be killed. And South did not want that to happen.

South turned of of her shower as she walked up to Pyrrha who was not facing her before grabbing her shoulders and slowly spun her around so she could look at her "Pyrrha. We both know I suck at these things. So I need to be blunt: Not wanting to kill is understandable, but that thought process is dangerous. If you keep this up, being kicked out of the Freelancers will be the least of your worries. This could get you killed".

"I know but... damn it! I don't know what else to do" Pyrrha said.

"I wish I could tell you. But as your best friend, I need to make sure you don't die. Even if it means I need to give you a harsh reality check" South said.

"Wow, South. You almost sounded like Carolina there" Pyrrha said with a smile, before she yelped when South pinched her butt cheek "Ow! What the hell was that for!?".

"Never compare me to her again. Got it?" South said sternly.

Pyrrha pouts "Alright, fine. Man you are always so mean".

"Oh don't be a baby. Are you done showering, or do I need to help you with the hard to reach spots?" South asked with a smirk.

Pyrrha blushed bright red "South!".

South laughed before putting Pyrrha in to a head lock "You are to easy sometimes, Pyrrha. Come on, let's get dressed before we are sent out again".

"Hey! Let me go! Let me go!" Pyrrha complained as South dragged her out of the shower room.

How these two became best friends is a mystery of the universe.

* * *

Sometime later, a mission didn't go to well. In a room a Freelancer wearing brown armor hanging her head down as Agent Washington approaches her.

"It wasn't your fault, Connie" Wash said.

"Easy for you to say. You didn't drop the ball" Connie said, not looking at him.

"The ball got dropped. We were all there, it's everyone's responsibility" Wash said.

Connie began to get angry "Dammit, why are you doing that?"

"What am I doing?" Wash asked, confused as to why Connie only seemed to get angry.

"Making excuses for me. I'm not making excuses for myself...why are you?" Connie asked.

"I'm trying to make you feel better" Wash defended.

"Yeah? Great. Hey, how about you go make Carolina feel better? Go pat Maine on the head. Or maybe give Pyrrha a hug. See how that works out for you" Connie said.

"We all make mistakes" Wash argued.

"No! We don't" Connie stands up and faces Wash "That's the point! We don't all make mistakes. Some of us very specifically make mistakes, and others don't seem to make any mistakes at all!".

Wash felt that Connie was being unreasonable "Connie, come on...".

"That's why they're doing all this! These missions! The rankings! They're drawing a line between us Wash. And you're either on one side of that line, or you're on the other. And it's getting pretty goddamn clear which side I'm on" Connie said.

Wash put a hand on her shoulder "No one thinks like that; we're a team".

Connie brushed him of "I'm not talking about you guys. I mean them. Him".

"The Director? He's given us everything. He's helping us!" Wash argued.

"Helping us? Wake up! Wake the fuck up! He's filtering us! This is a selection process, Wash. I don't know for what, but, if you're not at the top of that board, you're not worth anything to him" Connie snapped at him.

"You're just overreacting. You've always been hard on yourself, Connie" Wash said, he really did not like where Connie was going with this.

"Not as hard as they are" Connie said as she hands her helmet to Wash "Not nearly as hard as they're going to be" She then turns away from him "And don't call me Connie. Makes me sound like a fucking kid" She begins to walk away "Call me CT. Oh, and the line that I talked about...you better hurry up and figure out what side you're on, Agent Washington. Before they figure it out for you".

As Connie exits the room, Wash turns her helmet face up and looks down at it before looking up again, only to spot Pyrrha who was looking in the direction Connie just left.

"What was that about?" Pyrrha asked.

"She didn't take the mission failure to well... and she seems convinced that the Director is going to toss us aside at any moment... do you know what she's talking about?" Wash asked.

Pyrrha was silent for a moment before she shook her head "No. But I do know something. That board... is going to cause a lot of pain down the line. I only hope we survive whatever might come".

That was not the answer Wash was hoping for, as it just sounded even more cryptic than what Connie said. Pyrrha looked at the Leader Board with a glare. Not because she wasn't on it, but because she just hated the sight of it. A board shouldn't be the judge of who is better than the other. In her eyes, everyone is equally important. Carolina and the rest of Freelancers had been more of a family to her than her so called father ever was. Pyrrha may have been to young to remember his old self clearly, but she knew that after her and Carolina's mother died, he all but stopped being their father. Pyrrha didn't believe in ranks or being judged for once's skills in combat. She believes in judging someone for who they are.

But what does she know? In her father's eyes, she is nothing but naive.

**.**

**Tell me what you think.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Introductions.**

Sometime after CT's cryptic words to Wash. Pyrrha was walking down the halls of the ship, talking with South about some random stuff they liked to talk about. However their friendly chatter ended when they noticed several soldiers run past them. Like they were hurrying to catch a movie or something. Confussed, Pyrrha grabbed one of the soldiers to stop him.

"What is going on? Why is everyone in such a hurry?" She asked.

"Some new agent squaring off against Maine, Wyoming, and York on the training room floor. We're going to watch! You should too, it will be epic!" The soldier said before he hurried on.

"A three on one fight? Against Maine, Wyoming, and York no less?" Pyrrha wondered.

"Oh we can't miss this. Come on, let's check it out!" South said as she grabbed Pyrrha's hand and dragged her along.

Once they arrived the spectating room above the training ground, they saw Maine, Wyoming and York run torwards the agent with pugil sticks. They are all knocked down to the ground by the agent's pugil stick, revealing the agent to be wearing an all black armor. For some reason Pyrrha could tell right away the new agent was a woman. She was not sure how, she could just tell.

Wash and North quickly join the others just in time to see the quick clash. Carolina soon arrieved as well "What's going on down there? There's no training session on the schedule".

"It's impromptu" South said.

"Who the hell is that?" Carolina asked.

"A new recruit. Who is really seeks to make a good first impression" Pyrrha answered.

Meanwhile, down in the training room, York, Maine and Wyoming get back up and charge forward. However, they are all knocked back seconds later by several quick strikes.

"Wow, he sure doesn't move like he's recruit" Wash commented.

South looked at him "Why do you assume it's a guy? She's a girl".

"Oh. I...I didn't really mean that he... I mean it... I mean her... I..." Wash stumbled over his words and Pyrrha put a hand on his shoulder.

"Wash. In times like these. It's better to be quiet" She said, earning

a chuckle from North and South.

"All of you, can it" Carolina ordered.

"Sounds like someone is a little bit concerned about their position" South said, though her tone made it sound like a taunt. Pyrrha didn't like it, sure her sister and friend did not have the best bond, but she hoped it didn't evolve to hostility.

"Hey South, pay attention. You might actually learn something if you stop running your mouth for a minute" Carolina retorted.

"Burn" Pyrrha whispered, earning an annoyed growl from South.

Back in the training room, Tex strangles Wyoming with her pugil stick on her back as York and Maine get back up. Maine raises his pugil stick, but is hit away along with York by Tex, who lets go of Wyoming. Tex then gets into a duel with each them, easily knocking them down, being to fast for them to even react to her attacks, her final one even breaking her stick. Tex walks away coldly and throws away her broken stick on the ground. Maine gets back up and wobbles a few steps before dropping to the ground.

F.I.L.S.S. then spoke **"Round One: over. Pugil stick training, complete. Point awarded to Texas. The current score is: Team One: 0. Texas: 1".**

"Texas, huh?" Wash asked.

"I thought that name was reserved" Carolina said.

"For her it seems" Pyrrha said.

"Nice moves" Wash said.

"Could be luck. We'll see" Carolina said. Her tone made it sound like South was right about her comment earlier.

**"Beginning hand-to-hand combat. Round Two begin in five, four, three, two, one. Round begin"** F.I.L.S.S. announced.

The four agents in the training room get their stances ready.

"Okay guys, this one should be easy, so lets just play it by the book. Maine, how about you flank left and then-" York began as Maine charges in but is quickly knocked down "Or you could just charge in and get immobilized first. Okay, Wyoming, lets stick together and-" Wyoming also charges in but is quickly knocked down "Whats the story? Am I the only one on this team that knows how to talk?".

"I don't think talking is your problem" Tex said as she was right in front of him.

"Oh no!" York swings his fist towards Tex, but Tex punches him to the ground.

Tex kicks Wyoming to the ground as he tried to get up. Maine then gets into a fistfight with Tex. Tex swings Maine over her head and kicks him towards Wyoming knocking them both down. York gets up and begins to throw punches towards Tex, but she easily outmaches him and punches him down.

"Wow!" Wash said in amazement.

"Okay, that was pretty impressive!" North agreed.

"Just what kind of training did she go through?" Pyrrha wondered.

"Okay guys, that obviously didn't work so well. How 'bout this time we stay in formation and instead of like-" York tried to speak but Maine and Wyoming charge into battle, completely ignoring York's instructions again "Damn it! I can't believe I actually volunteered for this crap.

York also charges into battle as Maine swings towards Tex, but she kicks him back. Wyoming runs towards her, but she punches him in the face. York begins to swing and kick at her, but Tex is easily able to counter his attacks and knock him down. Tex begins to fight off her 3 opponents, knocking Maine off his feet and punching him to the ground. Then she rolls over Wyoming's back and knocks him down. She swing kicks York and knocks Maine to ground. York, Maine, and Wyoming, all at once, begin to attack Tex however they can. Tex manages to block all of their oncoming attacks. She even tricked Maine in to punching Wyoming. Then delivers several more strikes and ultimately wins the round.

F.I.L.S.S. spoke again **"Round over. Point Texas. Bonus Hand-to-hand round is will now commence. Agent Greece, please enter the training room"**.

Pyrrha got wide eyes "Say what?! I was never told about this!".

"Must have been a last minute decision" North guessed.

Pyrrha looked down at the training room and saw Tex looking right at her. She held up a hand before using her finger to motion Pyrrha to come down. Indirectly saying: Come down so I can kick your ass too.

"Good luck Pyrrha... I think you are going to need it" Wash said.

"Thanks for the word of confidence, Wash" Pyrrha said as she headed down.

Carolina and South shared a concerned look with each other. Despite not being close friends, both cared about Pyrrha, and both knew how Pyrrha was when it came to violence. Carolina could not shake the feeling that the Director did this on purpose to teach Pyrrha a lesson.

Pyrrha entered the training room, where York, Maine and Wyoming were catching their breath. Tex sure roughed them up real bad. And now, Pyrrha was next in line to get her ass kicked by this insanely skilled new agent.

"Hey Pyrrha!" York called out, making Pyrrha look at him "Be careful out there. She will floor you the second you let your guard down".

"I noticed. Take a breather, you will need it when she's done with me" Pyrrha said as she walked to Tex who was waiting for her.

"Agent Greece. Or do you prefer to be called Pyrrha? Heard you are one of the most skilled, and the softest Freelancer here" Tex began before getting in to her stance "Being soft may not hurt against low level punks. But you will need to harden up against me. Understood?".

"Understood" Pyrrha replied as she got in to her own stance.

She may not be as skilled at Hand to hand combat as her sister. But she and Carolina had been through countless sparring sessions together, so she was at least within the same league. So perhaps she wouldn't be beaten as badly as her friends were... one can hope, right?

F.I.L.S.S. was heard again **"Bonus Round, in five...four...three...two...one! Round begin!"**.

Immediately Tex goes for a punch but her fist is caught by Pyrrha but she is quckly kicked her right in the stomach knocking her back. As Pyrrha started to get up she felt another kick hit her, this time in the jaw causing more pain. pyrrha gets up and Tex readies a counter attack as Pyrrha goes for a kick of her own. Right as Pyrrha puts her foot near Tex she grabs the youngest Freelancer's foot and slams her over herself. Pyrrha hurries to get up but feels an overwhelming force as Tex was quickly on top of her and lays a beat down on her. Pyrrha tries to block the hits, but to no avail as every punch hits her like a rocket. Not even Carolian hit this hard.

Pyrrha quickly realized she would not win a head to head clash like this. She needed a plan. She finally managed to block one of Tex's hits and jumped back several feet. He body ached, if not for her armor, those hits could've broken several ribs. Tex was more skilled than any new recruit should be. Meaning Tex was no stranger to real fights. She knew exactly what she was doing.

"Had enough already? To bad, kid. I am not even close to being done with you" Tex said coldly.

Pyrrha took a deep breath to calm herself, before getting in to a different stance "Bring it".

Tex was silent for a moment to take in Pyrrha's new style. She didn't know what the young red head was planing, but she was curious to find out. She charged forward with her insane speed. But this time Pyrrha was ready for her and she managed to duck under Tex's fist and spun around for a kick. Tex easily blocked it, but Pyrrha knew she would, she leapt up with her other foot and used it to kick Tex in the chest, making her slide back.

Tex looked up in mild surprise that Pyrrha managed to score a hit on her, even though the others failed to do so. Pyrrha was more skilled than them, but also since they were fighting one on one, she didn't need to worry about the others getting in her way. So it did make sense that she fared better than her comrades.

"Not bad kid. Maybe you will give me a work out after all" Tex said before dashing in again.

Carolina studied the battle and felt a little proud of her sister. She realized fighting Tex head to head was not going to work. So in stead of trying to block Tex's attacks, she resorted to avoid them instead and force Tex on the defensive by strike at her exposed flanks. Carolina had to admit, that was clever. But she wondered how long Pyrrha would be able to keep this up before Tex catches on.

Back in the fight, Pyrrha's keep away strategy was working for a while. But Tex did indeed catch on to what Pyrrha was doing and had to find a way to stop her from jumping around. She would need to time her next strike perfectly. When Pyrrha jumped away again, Tex took her chance and while Pyrrha was still in mid air... Tex's powerful fist hit her right in the crotch!

All the spectators flinched and tightened their legs. It hurt just to look at what just happened.

"She punched her in the pussy... why would she punch her in the pussy?!" South asked out loud.

"Man I hope she wasn't planing on having kids" Wash said, still squirming from the painful sight.

Carolina shook her head. Never in a million years, did she think anyone would try the crotch-shot on a girl. Pyrrha may not have a dick, but it would still hurt.

As for Pyrrha, she was holding her crotch and her legs were shaking, she could've sworn Tex ruptured her bladder "Really... What kind of dirty move was that!?".

"You expect your enemies to fight fair? You still have a lot to learn, kid" Tex said before delivering a swift round house kick to Pyrrha's face, knocking her out of the fight.

Pyrrha barely even heard the match being called as she slowly got up and left the training room with shaky legs. Once she returned to the others, everyone looked at her.

"Are... you ok?" Wash asked hesitantly.

"Other than several bruises and the face that peeing is going to be real painful for a while... yeah, I'm good" Pyrrha answered.

"Still, you lasted longer than the guys... so that's something" North said.

"Kind of wish I didn't..." Pyrrha said as she looked back at the training room as Tex was continuing her fights with the others.

"Now resetting the floor for Lockdown Paint Scenario" F.I.L.S.S. said as Pillars begin to emerge from the floor of the arena

Wash turns away "Ugh. I hate that paint".

"Tell me about it. Stings like a bitch" South agreed.

"Turns your armor hard as a rock" North said.

"I wouldn't know" All turn toward Carolina "It's not bad if you don't let it hit you".

"Thanks, I'll try to remember that" Wash said sarcastically.

"When you are hit full force in the crotch, then you can complain about something hurting" Pyrrha said before grunting "Someone got ice? And it's not for my head".

Back in the training arena, York, Maine, and Wyoming walk to a table and load their paintball guns as F.I.L.S.S. announced the official third round **"Round Three, in five...four...three...two...one! Round begin!".**

The 3 agents take cover behind the pillars.

"Maine. Maine! Look I'm gonna move left, you go-" Maine rushes in. Shots are heard as York spoke in a sarcastic tone "Or you just run out and do whatever you want and then get killed. Ready, break. Good job everybody" Maine is knocked back covered in in pink gooey paint. Shots are heard. York sees Wyoming with paint all over his helmet "Oh man, it's gonna be a long day".

Tex is running across the arena and York hunting her down is shown. Tex finds York, knocks his gun away, knees him in the crotch, and shoots him in the face, making fall backward.

"Why does she like hitting people in the crotch so much!? What the hell is wrong with her!?" Pyrrha shouted, making everyone take a step away from her.

Next Tex is splattering her 3 opponents with paint and obtaining points in the process. While Maine and Wyoming are both standing like statues covered in paint, York talks to Wyoming.

"Hey, Wyoming. Where is she, can you see her?" Tex points her gun behind York's head "Uh, you know what? Never mind man, I think I've figured it out".

Tex fires and York's helmet becomes covered with paint. Tex walks past him. Tex continues to outmatch them, again and again, racking up more and more points.

Tex leaps off a pillar and shoots Maine's wrist. She dodges shots from Wyoming and York and shoots back at them, but the two quickly take cover. Maine swings in a punch, in which Tex dodges by rolling past him. She leaps off another pillar, shoots Maine again, and kicks him back. Maine swings in another punch at Tex, but Tex dodges and shoots his gun high in the air. As Tex continues to dodge punches from Maine and shots from Wyoming and York the gun starts to come down. She catches the falling gun and shoots Maine with it, knocking him down. She evades two shots from York and kicks Maine's body towards him. York rolls over Maine and toward Tex. As the two get into battle, York manages to knock Tex's gun away. However, Tex kicks the gun at York's face, swings his arm towards is crotch, uses his own gun to fire paint at it, and flings him across the arena. As Tex begins to walk away, she sees Wyoming hiding behind a pillar and shoots him in the face.

**"Having 8 rounds, the score is now: 0, 8. Advantage: Texas"** F.I.L.S.S. announced.

York, Wyoming, and Maine walk back to the table and reload their guns "Yeah, advantage is the right word F.I.L.S.S." Wyoming hands Maine a cartridge. York sees this and looks at them "Hey? What the hell are you guys doing?".

F.I.L.S.S. announced the next round **"Round Nine begins in five...four...three...two...one! Round Nine, begin"**.

Wyoming and Maine began to their fire guns, which now have live rounds of ammo. The real bullets tears through the pillars as Tex needs to hurry to avoid being hit.

"What?! Are they using live rounds on the training floor?" Wash asked in shock

"Looks like it" South said.

"That's against protocol, they're gonna kill her!" Wash pointed out

"Probably" CT, who had joined the group, said.

Wash turned to leave "Someone should get the Director!".

CT laughs "The Director? Who do you think gave them the ammo?".

"Watch your mouth CT" Carolina warned.

"I know losing over and over again is embarrassing, but this it to far!" Pyrrha said.

"Back off man. What the-" York puts his hand on Wyoming's shoulder but Wyoming shrugs it off. Tex takes cover as Maine and Wyoming close in on her "Enough of this" The battle gets fierce as York appears behind Tex "Look out!" Tex quickly points her gun at him "Hey, I'm trying to help".

"I don't need your help! Never abandon your team" Tex said.

Wyoming tosses Maine a grenade. Wyoming runs on top of a pillar and begins to fire. Tex evades and kicks York away. As Wyoming hops down, Tex grabs him and tosses him over. Maine punches Tex, but she blocks and kicks him. As Maine swings in for another attack, Tex dodges it and shoots Maine's hand to a pillar. Wyoming fires and hits Tex, causing her armor to spark blue.

Tex runs towards Wyoming and beats him up. York then places his hand Tex's shoulder "Hey, don't-".

Tex shrugs York off and begins to beat him up also. As Wyoming begins to stand, Tex fires an array of paint at him. As Wyoming slowly falls to the ground, Tex grabs his head and jams it into a pillar.

Tex begins to walk towards York. Maine releases his hand from a pillar and rams his body towards the pillar Wyoming is in. The top half flies off once Maine hits it, causing giant pieces of debris to fly everywhere. Tex manages to evade, but some of the debris hits York, knocking him down. Tex rolls toward Maine, begins to fire paint at him and kicks him far back. As Maine begins to fall to the ground he tosses the grenade Wyoming gave him earlier toward Tex. Tex dodges it and the grenade lands next to York.

"Hey!" Tex's armor sparks blue again. Tex begins to fire an array of paint all over York's body to protect him but the grenade explodes. York's body flies backward in response to the explosion.

"NO!" Pyrrha shouted

"Shit!" North said.

"Damn it! Those maniacs!" Wash said.

"What the fuck are they doing?!" North demanded as he along with Pyrrha, South and Wash hurries down.

Carolina pressed an intercom button "F.I.L.S.S. we need a medical team to the training floor stat!".

Carolina runs toward the training arena as well. Alarms begin to blare. everyone enter the arena and head to an injured York.

"York! York!" Carolina said as she knelt down next to him as Medical team members enter the arena and begin to scatter around "Get over here, now!".

"Is he gonna be okay?" Wash asked.

"Come on York. Hang in there" Carolina said.

"I can't believe she did that to him... shot his armor, sacrificed him" South said.

"Lockdown hardens the armor. She probably saved his life" Wash explained.

"Quick thinking" North said.

"Yeah, really quick" Carolina looks over to Tex, who is being helped by men in black suits.

The Director suddenly walks in with the Counselor by his side "Everyone! Stand down, now!" The freelancers stands at attention as he speaks angrily "You should be ashamed of yourselves! I expected an act as a team!".

"They used live ammunition on the floor sir. That's against regulation" Wash said.

The Director angrily gets in his face "Do you think our enemies will care about regulations on the battlefield, Agent Washington?!".

"So, y-you're not punishing them?" Wash asked.

"Ingenuity and adaptability are admirable traits! You should all learn something from this. Dismissed" The Director said before he leaves.

CT smirks at wash "Yeah, you should learn something alright".

"I can't believe this" Wash said.

"Don't forget to check your place on that list Wash" CT said as she leaves with Wash.

Carolina looks over at Tex as she is being escorted out by the black suited men "Interesting.

The black suited men escort Tex out of the training arena; Carolina continues to watch. Pyrrha watched for a bit before going over to Maine. She may be mad at him for using live rounds in a training fight, but he was still her friend, and she cared about him

"Are... you going to be alright?" Pyrrha asked.

Maine looked at her for a moment "I'm... fine. Don't worry about me".

Pyrrha watched him leave before she sighs "Not giving me a reason not to worry...".

This was one scary end to an eventful ordeal.

**.**

**Tell me what you think.**


	5. Chapter 5

**The First Kill.**

Sometime had passed and it was now time for the next major mission. In the debriefing room, the Director was standing alone, talking to something called Alpha.

"Okay! Well, I just ran everything again. All calculations are up to date, taking into account standard delays for communication and response time. Our window looks good!" Alpha said.

"I agree" The Director said.

"Well, you should...I'm sure you'd make the same calculations I did. Just, you know...more slowly" Alpha teased.

The Director looked slightly annoyed "Arrogance is a rather unbecoming trait, Alpha".

"Are you...seriously giving me a lecture on arrogance right now? Pfft. Heads up, you've got a visitor" Alpha said.

Carolina appears behind the Director "Director?".

"Log off" The Director ordered.

"Yeah, yeah. Way ahead of ya, bud" Alpha said before going silent.

The Director turns around "Yes, Agent Carolina?".

"The team is ready, sir" Carolina said.

"Excellent. Let us begin" The Director said as he approaches a holographic screen where several Freelancers and soldiers are waiting "Agents! Your mission today is by far the most important you have undertaken to date. As our Number One, Carolina will be leading from the field".

Carolina takes her position at the front of the screen. She presses a few buttons that activates a holographic sphere onto the screen "Okay, here's what we have. As you may have heard, there is suspected Insurrection activity in this area. Our intel says that members of the UNSC loyal to the Insurrection have acquired a high-level asset and are holding it in this secure location. It's a hundred and ten-story building in the middle of an urban environment".

"What does security look like?" Wyoming asked.

"They have enough troops to fill a hundred and ten story building" Carolina answered.

"So, that's a lot of security" Wyoming said.

"Enough to hold of a small army" Pyrrha added.

"We're up to it" Carolina said as a red line cuts through the tallest building and forms a dot at a specific point inside "Our job is to infiltrate the building, work our way up to the floor where the Sarcophagus is being held, and secure it".

"The Sarcophagus?" North asked.

"That is what we are calling the primary objective" The Director answered.

"But since this is a high-level asset, we need to access a key code to open the Sarcophagus" Carolina said.

"I'm guessing they don't keep that just taped to the side" Wash assumed.

"If only it was that easy" Pyrrha said.

"It's held by an official of the program who will be moving in a vehicle along the freeway between inspections. That's when we'll hit the facility. We need to acquire targets within minutes of each other. We fail that, the remaining target will enter lockdown and we miss our window" Carolina explained.

"We will not have another chance at this" The Director clarified, making sure everyone understood just how important this mission was.

"So that means two teams" Wash said.

"Two teams. Team A will consist of me, Wash, Pyrrha, and Maine. We will work infiltration on the Package's storage facility. York is still in the infirmary, so Wash, you will have to pull off picking duty" Carolina explained.

"Um...okay. Guess I'll re-read my field manual on the transport" Wash said.

But then the door slides open and York enters "Hey, don't be so quick to give away my job".

"York?" Wash asked surprised.

"What are you doing here?" Pyrrha asked.

"I thought you were in the hospital" Carolina pointed out.

"According to their records, I am" York said.

"How's your eye?" Carolina asked.

"It's okay. Docs will let me out tomorrow" Wash said.

"Tomorrow, huh?" Wash said, sound slightly amused.

"Seems like you gave yourself an early discharge" Pyrrha said.

York walks towards the Hologram table "Look, I couldn't let you guys have all the fun without me. Besides, you need someone to get you in".

Wash looked at Carolina "Listen, I'm happy to see him too, but this mission...I don't know...".

"Yeah, he was badly hurt" Pyrrh agreed.

"Hey, if York says he's good, then he's good" Carolina assured.

"If you say so, sis" Pyrrha said, still not to sure.

"It's your call, boss" Wash said.

Carolina approaches York and spoke quietly "You're good, right?".

York looked at her "Okay, look, I said I was okay. Good might be oversettling it a little—".

"It's settled, then. York will join Team A and get them in the facility" The Director interrupted.

"Thank you, sir" York said..

"Transport will be two lightly-equipped Pelican dropships" Carolina continued to explain.

"We're rigged for fast running only, people. No heavy armaments" The Team Pilot said.

"Team B will be North, Wyoming, and C.T. You will act as recon for Team A, and once we enter the building, you will disengage to attack the target on the freeway. North will lead Team B" Carolina said.

"What about Agent South?" CT asked.

"Agent South will not be accompanying you on this mission" The Director answered coldly.

Pyrrha silently gulped. She knew South would be beyond pissed about this. Seems her mistake in the last mission was enough to the Director to not trust her with a mission this important.

"Hmm, guess the world's a tough place when you move down a rank. And where's our new recruit? Will she be joining us?" CT asked.

"That's enough questions, Connecticut" The Director declared sharply.

CT looked at Wash "Notice he didn't say no...".

"Team B should be simple. Stop the vehicle and grab the case. Team A? You have more of a challenge. Mainly if the Sarcophagus is an unknown" Carolina said.

"How unknown are we talking?" Wash asked.

"Unknown in that we don't know its size, or its weight, or its dimensions. We just know it will have these markings somewhere on the exterior" Carolina presses a few buttons and a large red insignia appears above the screen.

"I saw those same markings on the oil platform" North remembered.

"Correct. That facility created the primary objective" The Director confirmed.

"Do we know what's inside it?" Wash asked.

"Yes, we know" The Director answered.

"How do we know what's in it, but not how big it is?" CT asked only for The Director to turn to her silently, as if to warn her about asking more questions "Sorry, sir".

Pyrrha eyed CT for a moment _'Why does she keep questioning him like that when she knows it could anger him?'_.

"We have a job to do, people. Let's do it right and come home safe" Carolina ordered.

"That is all. You are dismissed!" The Director declared.

Everyone in the room stands to attention **"Yes, sir!"**.

Everyone moves out. But Pyrrha stopped when the Director called out to her "Agent Greece. This will be your last chance. If this mission fails because of your refusal to use lethal force, your freelancer days will be over".

Pyrrha clenched her fist for a moment before taking a breath "Understood... sir".

With that she follows the rest. As they get ready to leave, they had to break the news to South, who of course was not happy about the whole thing. South watches the Freelancer teams board the Pelican. North hesitates for a moment but follows the others wordlessly. But Pyrrha stopped in front of South for a moment.

"For what it's worth... I think you deserve to be on this mission more than I do" She said.

"I don't need your pity, Pyrrha" South said coldly.

"It's not pity South! I care about you!" Pyrrha argued.

"All you need to care about right now is to not fail. Unless you want to be kicked out and leave me behind" South said as she got in Pyrrha's face "As your friend, I am ordering you to forget about your childish morals and kill any mother fucker in your way. I am not losing the only real friend I have because you are to soft. Got it?".

"I... I got it" Pyrrha said. South nods and then leaves.

Pyrrha watched her for a moment before Carolina called out "Come on Pyrrha, it's time to go".

"Coming" Pyrrha said as she joins the rest. This mission would decide if she was a worthy soldier, or a liability.

Later, they arrived at their destination and North spoke over the com "Team A, you look clear. Window is open. Start your clocks. On my mark. Mark".

"Sync. Roger that. Team A is moving" Carolina replied

"Copy that Carolina. Good luck Team A" North said.

"Thanks. We won't need it" Carolina said as they moved inside.

Carolina, York, Wash and Maine dealt with the guards as Pyrrha kept a look out for more. There was one Guard left, but before the 3 men could make a move, Carolina stopped them.

"Alright Pyrrha, this one is yours" Carolina whispered.

Pyrrha looked surprised "What?".

"Pyrrha, if you fail to use lethal force on this mission, you will no longer be a Freelancer. I can not allow that to happen. This is the moment you prove The Director wrong. Time to prove you are a soldier. Kill him, now" Carolina ordered.

Pyrrha was silent for a moment before taking out her battle knife and began sneaking towards the unsuspected guard. Her teammates watched her as she got closer.

"You sure about this?" Wash whispered in clear concern.

Carolina sighed sadly "It's the only way. I am not letting my sister get kicked out. I... We all need her".

The others said nothing as Pyrrha reached the guard and got ready to stab him. She hesitated for a moment, allowing the guard to sense something was behind him. He turned around and gasped in surprise.

"What the! Who are-" Before he could finish Pyrrha stabbed him through the heart.

Blood seeped through the Guard's mask as he coughed for a bit until is body went limp. Pyrrha pulled out her knife and the dead body fell to the floor. Pyrrha looked at herself, her hands shaking, and she felt sick to her stomach. Carolina walked up to her and took her hand in to her own.

"The first kill is always the hardest" She said softly.

"How... How do you do this?" Pyrrha asked sneakingly.

Carolina put a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder "Killing is something you never get used to, Pyrrha. And there is nothing wrong with having morals. But while you are in the field, you need to close your heart. Ignore the blood and ignore the enemy's begging. Do not feel remorse for them, they will not feel any for you. OK?".

Pyrrha took a deep breath and nodded "Alright... I can do this. Let us hurry, we still have a mission to complete".

Carolina nods and moves on. Maine walked up to Pyrrha and put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring nod. Pyrrha put her hand on his, letting him know she will be alright and they continued on. Pyrrha was still shaken but she would need to keep herself under control long enough to complete the mission. She could not fail. She didn't want to be kicked out and lose contact with the only family she has.

They moved up to a lock door with Carolina speaking "We're in. York, get up here. How long to crack that lock?".

"Should take about 60 seconds. You can give me 15" York said as he began working "Wow, it's a holographic. That's high-end".

"Can you get through it?" Carolina asked.

"Of course I can. You didn't bring me along for my good looks, did you? Whoever designed this is a genius" York said, and then an alarm sounds.

"You were saying?" Carolina asked.

"Ok, I take it back, whoever designed this is an asshole. There" York successfully picks the lock, opening the doors to the Vault "Everybody in".

"Thanks York, but do something about that alarm system. We don't need anymore surprises" Carolina said.

"Does saying sorry count as something?" York asked and Carolina gives him a glare "Hmm. Guess not".

"We'll secure the package. Set some trackers, then find us a way out of this" Carolina ordered.

"Moving" York turns to leave but stops and looks at Pyrrha "You're good?".

"Good might be oversettling it a little. But I'll manage" Pyrrha assured.

"If you say so. Good luck" York said before leaving.

Pyrrha took a deep breath to calm her aching nerves and rejoined the others. Her hands where no longer clean... She had finally made her first kill... the first of many... this is what it felt like to be a real soldier... Pyrrha knew she would never be the same again after this.

**.**

**Shorter chapter to focus on Pyrrha overcoming her moral barrier. She has taken her first life, and now there is no going back.**

**.**

**Tell me what you think.**


	6. Chapter 6

**The Sarcophagus.**

Pyrrha, Carolina, Wash and Maine successfully make it inside the vault and begin searching for the Sarcophagus. Inside there was several alien weapons ans ships. Some real fancy stuff to keep in a vault like this. Some of these weapons were deadly enough to take out an entire squad of soldiers with little to no difficulty. And those ships looked way more advanced than anything humans have ever made.

"Alright everyone, spread out. What we need is here somewhere. It's probably something small, easy to miss. Take as many scans as possible, there may be other things we can use" Carolina ordered.

Maine picks up a Brute Shot and growls. Wash walks up and looks at him "That's a good look".

Pyrrha looked around until she saw something on one of the tables. It looked like a short sword and a shield. Curious, Pyrrha picked them both up and looked them over. She put the shield on her arm as she held the sword in her free hand before striking a pose and swung the sword a bit. It felt so light and easy to handle, almost like her knife. And the shield felt much the same, light and easy to move around, something that would make it an effective defense.

Pyrrha then looked to see Wash and Maine who had been watching her. She smiled behind her helmet and struck a pose again "Well?".

"You look badass Pyrrha" Wash said, while Maine gave her a thumbs up.

Pyrrha held back a giggle before looking at her sister "What do you think, Carolina?".

"Very nice sis" Carolina said with some amusement in her tone, before she was contacted by York.

_**"Carolina, Motion Trackers indicate you got an enemy team outside the door"** _He said.

"Well, let's hope they're not as good at picking locks as you are, York" Carolina said before speaking to her team "Alright team, we're about to have company".

Wash ran up to her "Boss, I've got good news and bad news".

"Hit me" Carolina said.

"We found the markings we're looking for. The bad news is...They're on that" Wash said as he motions to a container with the markings that were described to them before the mission, revealing it to be the Sarcophagus.

"That?" Carolina asked.

"It's a lot bigger than I expected" Pyrrha said.

**_"Team A, I got us an exit up here. Straight up the stairwell, door to the roof, helipad"_** York said over the radio.

"Copy, I'll radio air support" Carolina replied before she began to think "Now, how are we going to get that thing up to the roof?"

Maine shrugs his shoulders and growls and Pyrrha shook her head "There is no way I'm carrying that thing up there".

Carolina thinks before she contacts Maine "York, I saw a window-washer unit on our way into the facility, can you find where it attaches to the building?".

York replied sarcastically **_"I don't know, that's a tough one, 'lemme see what I can do"_**.

"What are you up to?" Wash asked.

"Improvising. Come here Maine" Carolina ordered and Maine followed her.

"Improvising? I hate it when we do that" Wash said.

"Sometimes there is not choice. Come on Wash, let's guard the door" Pyrrha said, earning a nod from Wash.

The Insurrection Soldiers trying to weld through the door as Carolina pushes the Sarcophagus on a lift connected to the window-washer unit. But time was running out and quickly.

"Better hurry!" Wash called out.

"Maine, it should work fine. You're the only one heavy enough to counterbalance this thing" Carolina said.

"Too high" Maine said, clearly not wanting to do this. Few people knew that Maine was scared of heights. Mainly because he threatens to tear of the jaw of anyone who brings it up.

"Oh, don't be a baby" Carolina kicks Maine out the window and shoots the wire holding up the window-washer platform. Maine free-falls down the building, past two Insurrection Soldiers.

"Hey, did you hear that noise?" One of them asked.

"Probably the sound of you being an idiot" The other one answered.

"Oh, you're probably right...dick-biscuit" The first one said.

Maine lands near the bottom of the tower and the Sarcophagus launches up to the roof where York is "Package is here".

Back with Maine at the bottom he growls in annoyance before he sees some soldiers "Stop right there or we'll...shoot? We-we're gonna' need bigger hand-cuffs. Is-is that a knife? Rifle? Kn-knifle? Ah!"

Maine pulls his Brute Shot out and slowly advances at the soldiers. Pyrrha, Carolina and Wash looks down as they see some explosions, followed by the scream of the enemy soldiers. A clear sign Maine is taking out his anger on them.

"Well that oughta' buy us some time" Carolina said.

"I almost feel bad for the people down there" Wash said.

"So do I" Pyrrha agreed.

"Don't" Carolina ordered.

"What? We said almost" Wash said.

The Insurrection soldiers weld through the door and bust it open. Pyrrha, Wash and Carolina open fire and kill all of the soldiers except for one. Pyrrha wasn't sure how many she hit, but she knew she had killed at least one of them, marking that soldier her second kill... only this time it was much easier than the first one. But she had little time to think on that as a large soldier walks in dramatically, holding a flamethrower.

"What the fuck is with this guy?" Wash asked. The soldier fires his flamethrower and the three freelancers dive for cover "Whoa, that's hot!".

They open fire at the soldier. The soldier, however, has bullet-proof armor and is unaffected by their gunfire. As he continues is attack, Wash throws a grenade toward him. Unfortunately, the soldier fires at the grenade, causing it to explode.

"I've got this. What The-? Ahh!" The Alien weapons overheat and explode, sending Carolina flying back. A fuel rod cannon lands in the middle of the floor in front of Wash. He dives for it and fires it at the soldier. However, the shot bounces off the floor and misses him.

Wash was utterly baffled by what he just saw "What the hell? It bounces?! Who designs a gun that bounces? This is the worst gun ever... of all-".

Carolina pushes him out of the way from the oncoming fire and they take cover "Stay low!".

Pyrrha tries to get closer, but the soldier spots her and fires at her. With little time to react, Pyrrha holds up her shield... which is suddenly powered up by some energy, which protects her from the flames. Pyrrha was amazed, but quickly powers through the flames, closing the distance and struck at the soldier with her new sword, which easily cut through his armor, making him grunt in pain before he kicked Pyrrha back and aimed his flame thrower again.

"Hey!" Carolina called out, making the soldier focus on her again.

Carolina runs across the room, hops over a table, runs up the side of the wall, and backflips, landing on a hanging purple plane. She shoots the flame soldier who, in return, burns the ship's cables. Carolina tosses a grenade into the cockpit and jumps off as the burning ship explodes and knocks the flame soldier over. As he gets up, Pyrrha rushed up and smashed her shield in to his face, the extra force added to the blow by the shield's energy, made the flame soldier fly in to a wall, and he fell down, unmoving.

"That guy was a dick!" Wash said.

"Come on. Let's get moving, you two!" Carolina ordered.

"That bit with the purple plane, that was just showing off" Wash said. As They run away as a banshee falls from the ceiling behind them.

"And Pyrrha?" Carolina said, making her sister look at her "You did good".

Pyrrha smiles behind her helmet as they continue on. They arrive at the roof where York is waiting.

"Come on, come on, hurry!" York smashes the control panel to the door, closing it shut "There, that oughta hold 'em for a while" Soldiers immediately begin to weld through the door "Okay, maybe not. Hey, where's Maine?".

"Carolina kicked him out a window" Pyrrha answered.

"And now he's downstairs, keeping our hosts occupied" Wash added as radios begin broadcasting bruteshot grenade explosions and screaming.

"Man, I almost feel bad for them" York said.

"That's what I said!" Wash said.

"Four- Seven Niner, this is Team Alpha! We need evac on the roof of the tower!" Carolina said over the radio.

_**"Roger that, I'm on it"**_ Their pilot replied.

"Come on, it's up... here" York trailed of as they noticed someone else had arrived. Someone who made Pyrrha close her legs.

"You!" They see Tex on the roof, setting up an unknown device. Carolina confronts her "What are you doing here? Is that a bomb? I knew it. It was you who blew up the oil platform!".

As Carolina spoke to Tex, Pyrrha was glaring at her, still holding a little grudge from the crotch punch. It was very painful going to the bathroom after that.

"That thing blew up?" Wash asked.

"Somebody's been covering our tracks. You're on the roster too, but they hid your name. Why did they send you?" Carolina demanded.

"Hey, hate to bust up your reunion here, but we've got a problem!" York said as Insurrectionists bust open the door.

"Let's go, go, go, now! Get into position! Completely surround them!" The Commander said as Hornets and soldiers with jetpacks surround the area "No one get behind me! Drop your weapons!" He then turns to York "You... dickhead, disarm the bomb!".

York slowly puts his weapon down "Easy, easy. No reason to get all dramatic! Okay, let me take a crack".

"Just fuckin' do it already!" The Commander demanded.

"Easy, easy, man" York picks up the bomb "Uh... this isn't a bomb. It's a transmitter".

"Alright, it's not a bomb! Wait, a transmitter? What's it transmitting?" The Commander asked.

"Our location" York answered.

"Why would it do that?" The Commander asked.

Pyrrha looks up "I think I know why".

"Well, why?" The Commander demanded.

"You are about to find out" Pyrrha answered.

Back in the Mother of Invention F.I.L.S.S. spoke "System online, Director. Awaiting your command".

The Counselor walks up "If I may Director, I think it would be wise if we-".

"Shut up, Counselor" The Director ordered.

The Counselor backed of "Of course, sir".

Back with the team a Laser homes in on the transmitter. The enemy Commander looks around "What the hell? There were five of them here! What the fuck is going on?!" Carolina deactivates her camouflage and beats the crap out of some soldiers. Tex uses her invisibility to also take out some soldiers "What did I say?! I said one thing! Keep them in front of me!".

"Hey man, you mind holding this for me for a sec?" York hands the transmitter to the Red Demo Man and runs off "Thank you".

A beeping is heard and the Red Demo Man looks up. While that was going on, Pyrrha helped her sister and Tex take out the soldiers. Using her sword to cut down several of the soldiers. They were screaming as they lost limbs and Pyrrha stabbed one through the hear before cutting the throat open of the next one. She couldn't get over how easy it was to kill these soldiers. After her fisrst kill, killing her enemies came more natrually for her... and it almost scared a her a little. Was killing suppoused to be this easy?

The "Mother of Invention" fires its MAC cannon and the enemy commander saw the beam comming "Oh, son of a...".

The building gets hit by the blast, causing the Freelancers to all fly back from the explosion. The blast also creates a large gaping hole on the roof. Tex spots a Pelican in the sky. She grabs a jetpack from a dead soldier and uses it to kick the Sarcophagus off the building. She then flies off. Pyrrha, York, Wash, and Carolina also see the Pelican hovering over them. The four begin to run towards the edge of the building as the hole crumbles down behind them.

"This must be karma for kicking Maine out the window!" Carolina said.

"I don't wanna **DO THIIIIIIISSS!**" York screams

**"SON OF A BIIIIIIIITCH!"** Wash screams.

**"LOOK OUT BELOOOOOOWWWW!"** Pyrrha shouts.

The four jump off the building, with the Pelican rushing down behind them. The three Freelancers free fall down the building in diving position, avoiding oncoming debris and other falling soldiers. Carolina reaches for the Sarcophagus and rides on it. Their Pilot tries to get the Pelican in position with Carolina.

"Line it up! Come on! Come on! Stay on target!" She opens the Pelican's back hatch and begins to slow it down.

Suddenly, two Hornets appear and begin to fire at them. Carolina hops off the Sarcophagus and Washington takes her place on it. He fires his rifle at a Hornet and manages to take it down in mid-air. She successfully pushes Wash and the Sarcophagus safely inside the Pelican. Tex's armor sparks blue. Pyrrha lands on the second hornet and stabs through the glass with her sword, killing the pilot before she jumped of.

"PYRRHA!" Carolina shouts and Pyrrha quickly wraps her arms around her sister's neck as she got on her back, falling with her.

"Well, there goes our ride" York said.

"You think maybe we should've had a fallback plan?" Carolina asked.

"Not the best choice of words sis!" Pyrrha said.

"Hey, what happened to Maine?" York asked and Maine suddenly appears, rescuing them in a Warthog "Whoa! Are we in a car?!".

The Warthog enters a tunnel. The 110 story building slowly crumbles down to the ground. The Warthog then exits the tunnel, with Maine quickly swerving through traffic, dodging oncoming cars. York is riding shotgun and Carolina is on the turret with Pyrrha still on her back.

"You are my god damn hero Maine" Pyrrha said.

Maine just grunts as they drive away.

**.**

**Tell me what you think.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Road War.**

After having been saved from the deadly fall by Maine, Team A is driving on the freeway. York is driving, Maine is riding shotgun, Carolina is manning the turret while Pyrrha sits behind York and Maine. There was no more seats, so she had to improvise. One of their targets were secured, but there was still the package. Team B was supposed to secure it, but they haven't heard anything from them, which was more than a little troubling.

Carolina tried to contact them "Team B report. Team B!".

"Team B is down! We have wounded, and are taking fire" North answered.

"We'll be right there" Carolina said.

"Negative, get the package. Get it out of the city" North said.

Carolina did not like it, but she knew they had to complete their mission "Roger that".

York tracked the target "Reading Team B's tracker... okay, there he is I got him".

"We'll cut 'em off at that overpass, go, go!" Carolina ordered and York began to drive faster.

"Will the other team be alright?" Pyrrha asked in concern for her friends.

"If anyone can survive that, it's them. Focus on the mission for now, Pyrrha" Carolina said.

Pyrrha sighs but nods "Understood".

The program official Rhee Sebiel, is driving under an overpass just ahead of Tex. Team A is watching him, waiting for him to get closer. As Rhee approaches them, Maine jumps on the hood of his car and prepares to stab him with the bayonet of his brute shot. Later, Maine carried a white briefcase back to Team A's Warthog.

"Nice work Maine" Carolina praised.

"Thanks" Maine said as he put the briefcase on his back.

"Yeah, subtle as always. Response team is probably on the way" York said as Maine got in to the Warthog.

"Let's get the hell out of here" Carolina ordered.

"Hold on!" York drives the Warthog down the highway, swiftly passing by several random cars. Two Insurrection Hornets are in pursuit "Comin' through! Excuse me! Look out!".

"Here they come!" Carolina called out.

The Hornets close in on Team A. Three Insurrection soldiers, a muscular sleeveless soldier, a sniper soldier, and a female soldier,with jetpacks hop off their Hornets and flank the Warthog.

"Behind us!" York called out.

As the Team battles two of the Insurrection soldiers, the Sniper Soldier speeds ahead and takes aim on a truck in front of them. The other two Insurrectionists continue to fire.

"Maine! Protect the briefcase!" Carolina ordered.

Maine notices a sniper laser pointing at Carolina's spine and looks behind him. The sniper fires a shot at Carolina, but Maine intercepts the shot, causing it to hit his chest and render him unconscious.

"Maine? Sniper!" A sniper bullet whizzes past Carolina's head, impacting into the turret. Carolina ducks down "Punch it!".

"It's punched!" York yelled back.

"Look out!" Pyrrha called out as another female soldier flies in with a large blade. Pyrrha blocks her with her own sword, but the girl punched her before warping an arm around her neck and pulled her of.

"Pyrrha!" Carolina called after them but was interrupted when The other female Insurrectionist lands in front of the Warthog and has a brief battle with her.

Maine stirs, but the female Insurrectionist plants her foot on Maine's back, knocking him out again. She steals the briefcase off Maine's back but Carolina manages to kick her away. As the briefcase flies in the air Carolina struggles to get a grip of it; eventually she manages to.

"Got it" She said, but not for long.

The sleeveless Insurrectionist kicks Carolina down to the front bumper of the Warthog and retrieves the briefcase. Carolina attempts to climb back on the Warthog, while the sleeveless Insurrectionist prepares to execute a still-unconscious Maine.

"Hold on!" York swerves the Warthog to the left, flinging Carolina & the sleeveless Insurrectionist off it, rousing Maine in the process.

They land on a nearby truck platform with oil drums, with Carolina grabbing the briefcase in the process. The female Insurrectionist begins to fire at Carolina, forcing her to take cover. At the same time, the sleeveless Insurrectionist tosses an oil drum at Team A's Warthog, knocking off its turret.

"Would you quit throwin' shit! On your left! On your left!" York called out.

The sniper soldier fires at York and Maine from a neighboring truck. York rams the Warthog into the truck, knocking the sniper off. The sniper uses his jetpack to gain back his balance and accelerates towards the Warthog, until Maine punches him in the face, knocking him down to the road. York and Maine speed up next to the oil truck.

Maine jumps out of the Warthog and onto the oil truck platform, in order to assist Carolina. Maine battles the female soldier, but is kicked back with Carolina. As Carolina and Maine are back to back the two switch opponents, Carolina fighting the female soldier & Maine fighting the sleeveless soldier, with Maine now in possession of the briefcase.

While all of that was going on, Pyrrha broke free from the girl's grip and both landed on another truck's trailer. Facing each other, Pyrrha readied her new Sword and Shield, while the girl was now duel wielding two swords. Pyrrha was not sure where she got swords like that, but she didn't really have time to think on that. The Girl dashed forward, striking at Pyrrha with several quick slashes with her blades, Pyrrha blocked them and tried to fight back but the girl managed to block her strikes. Sparks flew like fireworks. They both landed on the opposing sides of each other, and they both whirled around quickly and attacked again. The duo commenced in a sword duel, blocking and deflecting one another's strikes. Pyrrha jabbed her blade forwards, but The Girl swiped her own sword upwards to throw the blade away from her body. She in turn swung her weapon towards her opponent, but Pyrrha took a step back and avoided said swing. The Girl leaped into the air, trying to go for an overhead strike. She swung twice, fast and hard, but Pyrrha was managed to deflect them both. The Girl landed behind Pyrrha, but she successfully launched a kick out of nowhere that sent The Girl backwards a bit, almost knocking her of the truck. But her balance was strong, almost like a cat. They continued to clash, as the truck they were fighting on caught up with the rest.

"On the right!" York tosses the Brute Shot to Carolina, who jumps in the air, dodging incoming bullets. She stabs the female soldier with the Brute shot "Come on!".

The female Insurrectionist tosses her pistol to her sleeveless companion, who catches it. The sleeveless soldier battles with Maine, even managing to shoot Maine's throat. He then throws Maine to the floor and shoots his throat repeatedly.

"MAINE!" Pyrrha shouts before being forced to block another strike from the girl.

"NOOO!" Carolina quickly tackles the soldier and nearly stabs him with the Brute Shot.

The sleeveless Insurrectionist kicks Carolina off and the two battle. As Carolina begins to overcome the two soldiers, Maine loads his Brute Shot, with blood pouring down his throat. He aims at the two Insurrectionists, but the female Insurrectionist fires at Maine, causing his aim to go awry. Maine fires at the truck's rear, causing it to swerve. The truck hits a car and the four soldiers fly through the air, the female Insurrectionist flying off the highway. Carolina reaches for the briefcase, still on Maine's back, but fails to reach it as she lands in the Warthog. Maine, however, bounces off the road twice and is hit by a speeding truck and is completely knocked off the road.

"NO!" Pyrrha shouts as she forced the girl back "Get out of my way!".

"Not a chance!" The girl said as she suddenly got through Pyrrhas defense and stabbed her in the shoulder.

Pyrrha cried out in pain before kicking the girl back and tried to retaliate, but her enemy ducked under her strike and sliced her in the side, making blood fly out from the newly created wound. Pyrrha has never even once been injured like this during a mission, worst she ever suffered was a few bruises. It was clear the soldiers that were sent after them were no ordinary soldiers, this must be the elies, highly trained and very dangerous.

"You will pay for what you did to my friends!" The girl declared.

"Your first!" Pyrrha shot back as she kicked the girl and sliced at her head with her sword. She managed to knock the girl's helmet of, allowing Pyrrha to get a clear look of her face.

She is a fair-skinned young woman with wavy shoulder length black hair and amber eyes. She almost looked like a human cat, and seemed to be within the same age range as Pyrrha herself.

"Who are you?" Pyrrha demanded.

"My name is Blake, if you must know. But you will not live long enough to worry about it! I will make you pay for what you did, you murdering monster!" The girl, now named Blake, declared as she charged at Pyrrha.

Pyrrha tried to defend herself, but with an injured shoulder, and bleeding from the side, there was little she could do to keep Blake of her. Blake used her jetpack to tackle Pyrrha, lifting her of the truck and dropped her of the side of the road, seemingly hoping the fall would do the trick. Pyrrha fell and tried to grab on to something. But by doing so, she sudden stop dislocated her shoulder, making her scream in pain before she fell further down. She hit the ground hard, and while her armor took the brunt of the fall, it still hurt like hell.

She noticed Maine not to far away. Despite the pain, she forced herself back on to her feet and made her way towards him "Maine... Maine... you alright?" She knelt down next to him "Maine, please... give me a sign you are alright...".

She heard a sound and saw Blake was back. She was flying towards Pyrrha, blades drawn. Pyrrha glared and held up her sword the best she could. But with both her shoulder injured, she was not ready for another fight. Blake got closer, ready to take Pyrrha's head clean of... but suddenly, Pyrrha was pushed to the side by Maine who delivered a powerful uppercut to Blake's chest.

The blow made Blake fly in to the pillar, this damaged her jetpack, causing her to lose control and fly away.

With Blake finally defeated, Maine collapsed again "MAINE!" Pyrrha put her hands on him "Maine, no! Maine! MAINE!".

Pyrrha could feel her body growing weaker by the second, but she could not die now, she had to help her friend... she had to help everyone. But staying awake became harder and harder by the second. She laid on top of Maine, hoping to shield him from any more harm.

She then heard a sound as a Pelican arrived. The back opened up and a familiar voice was heard "PYRRHA!".

"Sis...?" Pyrrha whispered as her older sister rushed up to them.

"Oh my god! Pyrrha, stay with me!" Carolina said in slight panic as she picked Pyrrha up in her arms "I got you sis. I got you. Hurry, get Maine on board!".

"On it!" York said as he and North hurried to help Maine.

Carolina carried Pyrrha on to the Pelican "It's alright sis. You are safe now".

"The... mission..." Pyrrha whispered.

"It's complete... you did good sis... you did good" Carolina assured.

Pyrrha couldn't help but smile weakly at that. At least all the pain wasn't for nothing. With her mind at ease, she could finally allow herself to get some much needed rest. But this mission would stay with her for a while.

As they were flying away, Blake watched them. She was to injured to follow, and even if she wasn't, there was no way she could catch up with them now. Gritting her teeth, Blake punched the wall next to her "MONSTERS! FUCKING MURDERERS!".

Blake remained like that until her own back up picked her up.

This mission came with several first time experiences for Pyrrha. This was the first time she had killed on a mission... and the first time she was almost killed herself.

**.**

**Another RWBY character finally joins the story, and I have a feeling not many of you were expecting who the second RWBY character of the story would be.**

**.**

**Tell me what you think.**


	8. Chapter 8

**The Next Phage.**

Pyrrha's vision was a blur, she could barely register anything that was happening. All she could tell was that she was put on a stretcher and was pulled through the halls, her helmet had been removed and an oxygen mask was placed on her. She could faintly see Carolina run alongside them, holding her hand, and telling her everything would be alright and and she needed to hang in there. After that, everything went black. In another room, The Director and Counselor are ordering around some soldiers, who are pushing the Sarcophagus that was retrieved.

"Keep it in its case, and don't let it touch anything else" The Counselor said.

The Director then turned his attention to something "Hello there. Do you know your name?".

"I am confused" A voice answered.

The Counselor stepped up "Do not be concerned. That is completely natural given your state".

"My state? Was I injured?" The voice asked.

"No. Do you feel as though you have been injured?" The Counselor asked.

"Counselor please. Do not be concerned. You are fine. You're safe. Once again, do you know your name?" The Director asked again.

"Yes. I know my name. My name is Alpha" The Voice answered.

"No, your name is not Alpha. You are mistaken" The Director said.

"I am sorry, I am confused" The voice said, if his name was not Delta, then what was it?

"Do not be concerned. This is perfectly normal given your state. Would you like to know your name?" The Counselor asked.

"Yes please. I would like to know my name. I feel very confused" The voice said.

"Your name is Delta. That is your name" The Director said.

"Delta?" The Voice asked.

The Counselor nodded "Yes. You are very wise, Delta. It is very nice to meet you".

"I think I remember you" Delta said.

"No, you have never met us before. You did not exist before today. Today is your birthday. Today is a great day" The Counselor said.

"Do you know your name?" The Director asked again, wanting to make sure everything was working like it should.

"My name is Delta" Delta answered.

The Director nodded "That is correct".

"Delta, this is the Director. He is going to take good care of you" The Counselor said.

"I am glad to hear that. I am very confused" Delta said..

"Don't worry Delta, that will not last long. And when you feel better, we are going to do incredible things together you and I. Incredible things" The Director said.

In front of them was a green AI who was now named Delta. He would be a very important part of the future plans.

* * *

Light was the first thing Pyrrha saw as her eyes slowly opened. She could hear beeping, meaning she was in the medical bay. She let out a breath as she tried to look around, only for a female medical officer to appear in front of her.

"Easy there, you were more badly injured than we thought. Other than the stab wound and dislocated shoulders, you also suffered from broken ribs and mild internal bleeding. We fixed you up the best we could, but you should try to avoid moving around to much" She said.

"What... about... Maine?" Pyrrha asked.

"He... he will live. But he suffered severe injuries to his throat. I fear he will never talk again" The medic said.

Pyrrha looked sad at that. Sure Maine never talked more than he needed to, but being unable to talk at all. That will be torture for him.

"Rest for now. I will inform the others you pulled through. It shouldn't be to long before you can head out again. But until then, you need to rest and maybe even do some light work outs to restore your strength".

Pyrrha let out a soft sigh "Alright... thank you".

The medic nods and leaves.

* * *

Elsewhere in the locker room, York and North were talking to each other.

"List changed again" North said as he saw that Tex had taken the top spot on the leader board, pushing Carolina down to number two.

"Yep, lots of things changing these days" York opens a locker and pulls out his old helmet, looks at it, then tosses it in the trash "I think we've got more change on the way".

"You feel it, too?" North asked.

"I felt it since Texas showed up and when cops and military started shooting at us, yeah, I find that I just keep coming back to the same question in my head over and over again" York said.

"And what question is that?" North asked.

"We're the good guys, right?" York asked.

"Yeah, 'course we are" North assured.

York looked at him "You don't sound so sure of yourself".

"No, no I suppose I don't" North said as he sees South walks past the ranking board, looks at it, then storms out.

But suddenly she meets a medic. The medic seemed to tell her something, and South quickly pushed past her and rushed away. North and York looked confused and headed around to speak to the medic.

"What's going on?" York asked.

"I just told her Agent Greece is finally awake and her injuries are healing" The medic answered.

Both York and North looked relived to hear that. Finally some good news to make them feel a little better.

Back with Pyrrha, she opened her eyes when she heard some commotion outside. She then heard something that sounded like a punch, and a body hitting the floor. A moment later, South rushed in and ran up next to her.

"Pyrrha! Thank god, you scared the shit out of me" South said in pure relief "When I saw you being rushed to the medical bay I feared you wouldn't make it. North had to stop me from rushing in to you. I almost punched him".

Pyrrha couldn't help but to smile "You were worried about me? That's so sweet of you".

"Don't try to be funny, Pyrrha. I've had to put up with enough shit already, last thing I need if for my best friend to die on me" South said.

Pyrrha looked a little worried "South, what happened?".

South was silent for a moment before an angry look appeared on her face "The damn list changed again. After Tex showed up, she claimed the top spot and now I am not even on the list anymore".

Pyrrha looked surprised, but then a thought crossed her mind "But if Tex is the new number one. Does that mean...".

"Yup, your badass older sister is now number 2. Which isn't to bad if you ask me" South said.

Pyrrha said nothing to that, being number two may not sound to bad. But for Carolina, someone who has been on top since the beginning, and someone who's been used to being on top... a demotion like that can be devestating. Pyrrha worried this could badly effect Carolina in the future, which in turn could effect everyone around her. She will be ready to do just about anything to get back on top again, and Pyrrha worried how far Carolina is willing to go, and how much she is prepared to do in order to reclaim her spot.

"I am sorry to hear that. But South, I don't care if you are on the list or not, I never cared about that. I still care about you" Pyrrha said.

"Easy to say for someone who's never been on the list in the first place" South said bitterly.

Pyrrha frowns "Well, if this is what happens, I am happy I was never on the list, and I hope I never end up there".

South sighed "Sorry, I didn't mean to be a bitch to you. I am just frustrated".

"Don't worry South, I can handle your temper" Pyrrha said with a smile. South gave her look before giving her a light smack "Ow! Take it easy, I am still injured".

"That's what you get for being a smart ass" South said with a smirk.

"You are so mean... But I wouldn't trade you for any other friend" Pyrrha said.

South smiled and gave Pyrrha a light hug which surprised her a little, but not nearly as much as the sudden kiss on her cheek "Get well soon, Pyrrha. It's dull not having you around".

Pyrrha moved her hand to her cheek. What the heck just happened?

* * *

Elsewhere Carolina was looking at the leader board. And as expected, she was less than pleased about her new position. She was now second best.

"Our next phase is ready to begin, Carolina. We will be asking you to do a great, many things" The Director said.

"I'm ready Sir" Carolina said.

The Director took a few steps towards her "Some of these things might be... questionable".

Carolina turned around to face him "I'll do whatever it takes. You've given me everything. I would do anything for you".

"Glad to hear it, I will need everyone of you for this. And I just heard your sister has finally woken up. Care to join me for a visit?" The Director asked.

"Of course, I want to make sure she is alright" Carolina said, she spoke in a professional way, but on the inside she was really concerned about her sister's well being.

With that, both headed to the medical bay, and saw a medic rubbing his head "Damn...".

"Something the matter?" The Director asked.

The medic saluted "No sir... Agent South came by earlier".

That was all The Director needed to know "How is Agent Greece?".

"Recovering well. At this rate it shouldn't be long before she's ready for active duty again" The medic answered.

"Good. May we enter?" The Director asked.

The medic stepped aside and allowed them to go inside. Pyrrha looked up and tried to salute "Sir".

"At ease. I was told you will recover soon, so I will skip to the reason why I came here. I heard you finally killed some of the enemies. And not just one, many. Is that true?" The Director asked.

Pyrrha flinched but nodded "Yes sir. I killed anyone in my way".

The Director was silent for a moment before a ghost of a smile appeared on his face "Well done, Pyrrha. You are now a true soldier. I expect you will keep improving from here on out".

"Thank you sir" Pyrrha said, biting back the urge to snap at him. His words were meant to be a compliment, but it felt more like a slap in the face. Pyrrha let go of her moral code because she didn't want to be separated from her sister, not to please her father.

The Director looked at Carolina "You may stay with her for as long as you want. Just be ready when you are needed".

"Yes sir" Carolina said and The Director walked out. Once their father was gone, Carolina looked back at her sister "How are you feeling".

"Like shit" Pyrrha answered "The mission... there was just so much that happened. My first kill, my first near death experience... that girl I faced was a lot more skilled than I expected. If not for Maine, she would've killed me".

"And I would've tore the galaxy apart to find and kill her" Carolina said with a small smiled.

Pyrrha giggled a little "Knowing you, that wasn't a joke... what about you, Carolina? Are you alright? I heard about the changes on the Leader Board".

Carolina was silent for a moment before she sighed "Let's... not talk about that for now. I want to make sure you are alright first. The first kill always leaves an impact".

"It did... But the fact I killed isn't what scares me the most. It's how easy it became later that scares me. When I killed those other soldiers, it was so easy, I didn't hesitate for a second. And the worst part is that, I didn't feel guilty or sick from what I was doing. I... I felt at peace, I felt free... like I could do anything without any morals holding me back. And that scares me" Pyrrha said as she looked at Carolina with a lot of worry on her face "Carolina, I don't want to be someone who enjoys killing people".

Carolina quickly gave Pyrrha a gentle hug "Calm down sis. It's ok, you did what you had to do. Our enemies made their choice, their deaths is their own doing".

"B-but what I won't be able to tell the difference between friend or foe? What if I start enjoy killing people so much I will start killing anyone around me just for the fun of it!?" Pyrrha asked, sounding ready to panic.

"Pyrrha!" Carolina said as she grabbed Pyrrha's face and made her look her in the eyes "That's not who you are. You are not a murderer, you are a soldier. And most of all, you are my sister, I know you better than anyone. And I know for a fact that my sister is not a monster. You never were and you never will be".

Pyrrha took deep breaths to calm down "Thank you Carolina...".

Carolina kissed her forehead "I love you sis, now get some sleep".

"I love you too" Pyrrha said and Carolina turned to leave "And Carolina. No matter what the board says, you will always be the best to me".

Carolina smiled at her "Thank you Pyrrha. Get well soon".

With that Carolina left and Pyrrha closed her eyes to sleep. Little did she know, things were just going to get harder from here.

**.**

**And that marks the end of part one of the Freelancer Saga. In the next chapter, things will really start to heat up as the next part of the saga begins.**

**.**

**Tell me what you think.**


	9. Chapter 9

**The Next Phage Begins.**

Some time has passed since Pyrrha received her injuries and she had recovered enough to start training again. The time for the next phage was getting closer by the day so she had to make sure she was back in to decent shape for it. She didn't want to risk being left behind for not combat ready ready yet. Right now she was in the gym where she could train without her armor. Wearing basic training clothes, that being a black tank top and black work out pants, and she was barefoot. It felt nice to be training again, sitting still for so long was super boring.

She took a deep breath before performing two punches and a front kick. She then struck to the side with her elbow before performing another punch. She took another breath before doing another two punches and one kick combo. She let out a small cry as she performed several different combos, feeling her muscles loosen up more and more as her body was slowly but surely returning to it's top shape. She kept this up before performing a round house kick... but suddenly felt her foot get grabbed, stopping her kick in midair and forcing her to balance on one leg.

Pyrrha blinked for a bit before she looked to see who was holding her foot and was surprised by who she saw "Tex?".

"Nice kick" Tex said, still holding on to Pyrrha's foot. Pyrrha was surprised that she didn't even notice Tex approaching her. She must be really good at sneaking around.

"Umm, can you let go of my foot now?" Pyrrha asked. Tex was silent for a moment before pulling Pyrrha's foot, sending her down on the floor "Ow! What the hell was that for!?".

"Why did you fall down like that?" Tex asked, ignoring Pyrrha's glare.

"Maybe because you threw me down!" Pyrrha said, stating the obvious.

"It shouldn't have been that easy. You should've been able to recover quickly and land on your feet" Tex pointed out.

Pyrrha stood up "Alright I am a little rusty due to having been bed written for a while. It wasn't until recently until I was allowed to start training again. That's why I am here, I am trying to get back in to shape before the next mission starts".

Tex looked at her for a bit before she spoke "Remember when we fought each other in the training room?".

"You mean when you all but made sure that I would never have children? How could I ever forget that?" Pyrrha said, she remembered that day clearly.

"Yes, but you still lasted longer than the rest. You even scored a hit on me. Had you fought at you full potential, you might've lasted even longer against me. But your problem is that you entered the fight expecting it to be fair. But I don't fight fair, I do what it takes to win, even if it includes fighting dirty" Tex explained.

"Is there a reason why you are telling me this?" Pyrrha asked. Tex was clearly not the social lady, so her being here talking to her like this felt a little strange.

"You have an insane amount of potential Pyrrha, but you are the only one who dosen't see it. If you stopped holding yourself back, you could potentially surpass Carolina" Tex answered.

Pyrrha was surprised that Tex would say that but shook her head "I am flattered you would say that, Tex. But my sister is years ahead of me. I could never be as good as her".

"And there lies your biggest weakness. You don't believe you can succeed, you think you are inferior to Carolina, and not only her, but others as well. The walls you build in your mind keeps you from giving it your all, and become the freelancer you are meant to be" Tex explained.

Pyrrha was confused. Was Tex trying to train her? What has gotten in to her? She never paid this much attention to anyone. Yet here she was, telling Pyrrha about her hidden potential and how she could over come her weaknesses. She was acting like a mentor, and it was really confusing.

"Alright enough. Tex why are you here? And why are you telling me all this? You never talk to anyone else like this, so why me?" Pyrrha demanded.

Tex was silent before she stepped towards Pyrrha "You know, that is a very good question. I am not so sure myself" She reached out her hand and gently grabbed Pyrrha's chin and made Pyrrha look in to her visor "I can't quite put my finger on it. But when I look at you, I feel something familiar, and yet I have never felt it before. For some reason, the thought of you dying really bothers me. So I guess I just want to make sure you don't die because of you holding yourself back".

Pyrrha had no idea what to say to that, if she didn't know any better, she would believe that Tex actually cares about her "Ummm... thank you?".

Tex let go of her chin "You are an interesting little duck, Pyrrha. Stay alive, or I will be pissed".

"I will do my best. Thank you Tex, really" Pyrrha said with a small smile "Maybe you are not so cold after all".

"Heh, maybe not" Tex said before she walked out of the room.

Pyrrha watched her leave with a smile "So she has a softer spot. Who would've guessed".

"Getting friendly with the top dog now?" Pyrrha jumped and saw South leaning against the wall, and like Pyrrha she wasn't wearing her armor.

"Did everyone go through extra stealth training while I was injured?" Pyrrha asked, rubbing her chest.

"You are just spacing out more than normal. You know that can get you killed" South said.

Pyrrha sighed "I know, I know. Did you need something South?".

"Do I need a reason to check on my best friend?" South asked.

"No but you always do" Pyrrha reminded.

"You know me too well" South said as she walked up to Pyrrha "I wanted to make sure you had recovered. And wanted to be ready to rush you to the medical bay in case you re-open any wound".

"My wounds are all healed now. If I keep this up I will be ready to join you all on a mission again" Pyrrha answered.

"Good to know. What was the whole thing with Tex about? I came just as she called you little duck" South said.

Pyrrha shrugs at that "Not to sure. She seemed concerned for me. Not sure why. But she kept talking how much stronger I could be and that I could surpass Carolina".

"Well if anyone can surpass her it would be you" South said before looking more serious "Pyrrha, I can tell that something is on your mind. Are you thinking about that kiss on the cheek I gave you?".

Pyrrha blushed a little "I do... I wonder why you did it. What do you really think of me, South?".

South was silent for a moment "Well you look really sexy in the shower, where I can smack your soft ass".

Pyrrha blushed even more and glared "That wasn't what I meant!".

South laughed "Just messing with you. It was just a friendly kiss, Carolina kisses you all the time".

"South, people could misunderstand and think I make out with my sister, which is gross! She only kisses my forehead, and sister kisses are different!" Pyrrha said.

"Teasing you never gets old. But really it was just a friend kiss. What did you think it was?" South asked.

Pyrrha looked away "Well, a kiss can mean many things so I don't know".

South put an arm around her "Maybe we should discuss it in the shower?".

"Stop teasing me!" Pyrrha demanded.

"I'm not" South said, making Pyrrha look at her "You really need a shower, you stink".

Pyrrha groans "Forget it. But yeah, I do need a shower".

Pyrrha headed towards the shower room. South smiled and followed her.

* * *

Some time later, a computer was showing a game, while an Insurrectionist sleeping in a chair with his feet up.

_**"And now the moment you've all been waiting for, from the far distant system of Sanghelios...I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly, the bad boys of Grifball; Team Heretic! And your home playing favorites; Slipspace!"**_ The man narrating the game said.

The monitor begins to go haywire and show different clips of videos. Delta appears and startles the Insurrectionist, waking him up and almost making him fall out of his chair

**_"I hate to intrude, but you have not performed any work in the past 13 minutes and 42 seconds. That strikes me as rather inefficient"_** Delta said.

The Guard quickly began working again "Oh uh, sorry I was just trying to uh, yeah, how how do you get a new window? You know, like the, you know, like a new window, what's the button thing for that, you know?".

_**"I believe the keys you are looking for are Alt, Tab"**_ Delta told him.

The Guard opened a new window on the computer "Oh yeah, thanks little guy. Wait, who are you? You don't look like the normal holo-projection".

_**"That is because I am the A.I. designated as Delta, from Project Freelancer"**_ Delta explained.

"Wait, you're from Project, Freelancer? Wait, aren't those the bad guys?" The Guard asked.

_**"There is no need for name calling. I submit that Project Freelancer is neither good nor bad, much like your own forces. We are merely two groups dedicated to obtaining different results"**_ Delta told him.

The Guard seemed impressed with his wisdom "Whoa man that's, that's deep... Its like-it's like there's different universes but you know there's-".

York suddenly grabs the Guard by the shoulder "Don't encourage him, he's already long-winded as it is" He slams the Guard's head on the desk and he flips onto the ground "Thank God. I thought you two would never stop chit-chatting".

York begins typing on the computer as Delta speaks _**"I'm not sure that was entirely necessary. He seemed open to the logic I presented him. Perhaps he would have allowed us to carry on our mission".**_

"Sorry I knocked out your new friend. Now you two will never get to have a beer together" York said sarcastically.

_**"I believe that would have been unlikely, regardless"**_ Delta said since AIs can drink.

York successfully activates a holographic lock "Show time".

_**"Come in Agent York, are you in?"**_ The Director asked over the radio.

York begins to access the holographic lock "Yes, sir. These guys love their holographic locks. I'll let Delta take a peek in their system while I try to disable it manually. You're up D".

**"Curious"** Delta said.

"What's curious? That's code for bad, isn't it?" York asked.

**"I have detected an anomaly inside of the system, something that is not supposed to be there. Diverting sub-routines to investigate"** Delta said.

"Don't get too curious in there, I need your attention on this lock" York reminded.

**"Do not worry Agent York, I have already rectified several instances where you would have tripped the alarm system"** Delta assured.

The Guard begins to get back up, dazed and confused "Oh... Ow, my head... What-wait hold on. Why-give me back my leprechaun!...".

York kicks a chair into the Guard's stomach, knocking him down again and the Director heard it over radio _**"What was that, Delta?"**_.

"Nothing sir!" York said continues on the lock.

**_"Agent, may I remind you that we are running short on time?"_** The director asked getting a little annoyed.

**"Warning, an alarm has been remotely triggered"** Delta said.

"What, by who?" York asked, he was sure they avoided the alarms.

_**"They knew we were coming. Agent York, abort intrusion immediately. We are moving to more direct measures"**_ The director said.

"Wait, wait, wait, I can do this, I can do this, just give me a moment sir" York insisted.

F.I.L.S.S. spoke_** "System online, Director; awaiting your command"**_.

**"I agree with the Director. I have yet to see you successfully open a lock in the field, and this alarm will only hamper your progress"** Delta said.

"Okay, now don't you start now in on me, too! ...You've been talking to Wash again, haven't you?" York asked as he kept working.

_**"Agent York, we are out of time, I repeat; abort"** _The director ordered.

F.I.L.S.S. was heard again _**"Target locked"**_.

"Um... what target is locked? What's the target? Delta, what are they doing?" York asked.

**"Taking more direct measures"** Delta answered.

"You knew about this?" York demanded.

Delta was silent for a moment **"...Possibly"**.

York sees a hole being created in the side of the ship before looking back at Delta "Why you green little cockbite" Delta disappears and an explosion occurs, sending York flying across the room "Whoa!" York flips over and is being pulled by the vaccum of space while the ship alarm is sounding. He grabs onto a table "Whoa! Holy shit!"

York is hit by the chair and is soon sent drifting slowly into space, along with the Guard.

* * *

While all that was going on. Pyrrha had finished putting on her armor and was looking at her helmet "Well... back in to the fray...".

She puts her helmet on, grabs her weapons and heads out to join her team on the mission. The next phage was on the way.

**.**

**You can thank the Red vs. Blue: ZERO Trailer for this. The season looks awesome!**

**.**

**Tell me what you think.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Defection.**

The Insurrectionist that York incapacitated drifts by, still sitting in his chair. Three fighter jets leaves the base. The Director and Counselor watches the base from inside inside the Mother of Invention.

"Sir, enemy fighters approaching" The Counselor said.

"Fire at will, Counselor. Let's send them back to the scrapyard" The Director ordered.

The fighter jets proceed to attack the mother of invention while it fires back and takes out a two of the three jets, but the remaining one keeps shooting. A battle was on the way.

"It appears we are now taking fire" The Counselor said, stating the obvious.

"Release the dropships, get the team in position" The Director ordered.

The Mother of Invention keeps firing and four Pelican drop ships exits of the of the last Pelican dropship, the Freelancers were getting ready for a mission they hoped would finally put an end to the Insurrectionists.

"Well, that went to hell quicker than we thought. Out of the frying pan into the shit" Their Pilot said.

"We're going to need a new insertion point. York was supposed to open the leader's hangar for us" Carolina pointed out.

York spoke over radio "It wasn't my fault!".

"We'll have to settle for the main hangar" The Pilot said.

"Which one is that?" Carolina asked.

"The one with the shooting things coming out at us" The Pilot answered as the enemy base began firing at the dropship.

"Never a dull moment, huh?" Carolina said in small humor.

"I'd get your team ready; we're gonna come in hot" The Pilot instructed.

Carolina heads to the back of the dropship where Pyrrha, Wash, CT, South, and North are putting on jetpacks.

"You heard her, we're going for the main hangar! Be ready for anything" Carolina ordered.

"So much for a smooth ride" North said.

"Heh, what's the matter, feeling sick?" South asked jokingly.

"Hey, I'm not the one who needed a barf bag on all our family trips" North reminded in good nature.

"You needed barf bags?" Pyrrha asked her friend in an amused tone.

"Shut up" South warned as they sat down.

"How are you feeling? Are you up to this?" Wash asked Carolina.

"Say what you want to say, Wash" Carolina said.

"It's just, giving up your AI was a big deal. I thought-" Wash began but was interrupted.

"I'll be fine. Worry about yourself" Carolina said sharply "But, if you insist on worrying about someone else. Keep an eye on Pyrrha. This is a big mission for someone who just recently recovered from serious injuries".

South looked at CT "You're awfully quiet".

"Oh, just... trying to prepare myself" CT said, sounding nervous.

"Hey, worst comes to worst, we'll just get kicked off the leader board. At least us ladies will be sticking together, right?" South asked but got no answer.

"Connie, if something is bothering you, then you know you can talk to us about it. I am a great listener" Pyrrha offered softly.

"Thank you Pyrrha. I will keep that in mind" CT said. But it was clear she was hiding something. But only she knew what.

The Pilot tried to get them closer but kept getting hit by enemy fire "Damn it! Opening rear bay".

The Freelancers looks out of the back of the ship which was opening. CT was the one to speak "Right, all together!".

"Use your packs sparingly. Course correction only. You don't want to end up like Georgia" Carolina ordered.

"Wait, what happened to Georgia?" Wash asked.

"Nobody knows! They never found him!" South answered.

"Don't worry Wash. I am pretty sure that will not happen to you" Pyrrha said.

"Are you sure these things are safe?" Wash asked in worry.

South "Yeah!".

Pyrrha "Pretty sure".

"Now!" Carolina orders.

The freelancers jumps out heading towards the hangar of the enemy base. Two Insurrectionists were preparing weapons in the hangar, with one holding a box of shotguns.

"Battle stations! We're under attack!" One of them said.

"No shit, we're under attack. What do you think we're doing, rolling out the red carpet?" The other one asked.

"No, assface! Look!" The first one said as he points to the outside.

The Freelancers are seen coming in except CT. Where did she go?

"Aw, hell!" The other one said as he drops a shotgun, which discharges onto the other Insurrectionist, knocking him over "Not again... Sorry about that".

He then gets shot and falls over. The freelancers comes in, with Carolina running ahead and starts to fight the Insurrectionists with a gravity hammer, and Wash heads to the control panel and began working on it to find the security override.

"Okay, where's that security override? Come on... damn it!" Wash punches the control panel out of frustration and disables the artificial gravity "Uh oh, that's not good. Hey guys? ...Things might get a little... floaty" The Insurrectionists start to float away from the ground and fire randomly into the air, some hitting other, yelling in confusion "Everyone! Enable grav-boots!".

Using their grav-boots, the Freelancers kept shooting the enemy soldiers. Pyrrha took a deep breath to calm herself and then began shooting at the floating enemies. They were practically helpless, little more than target practice now. Pyrrha wasn't to happy about shooting helpless enemies, but she kept reminding herself that she couldn't afford to feel bad for her enemies. They would not do the same for her. Carolina then comes in and with the gravity hammer knocks a warthog into a group of insurrectionists. She then pulls out her two plasma guns and jumps from warthog to warthog obliterating soldiers. She kicks a Warthog as Washington returns the gravity to normal

"Okay... okay... I got it! I got it! Oh man..." The Warthog Carolina kicked flies at Wash and he ducks "Why do cars hate me?".

Insurrectionist and Warthogs fall to the ground and Carolina drops down on one knee unharmed. Pyrrha walked out of cover but one soldier was still alive and stood up with a shotgun. He aimed it at Pyrrha and pulled the trigger. But Pyrrha used her shield to block the blast before quickly disarming him of his weapon, spun around him, grabbed his head and then snapped his neck. Once again, killing had become easier.

The team regroups with Carolina handing out orders "They know we're inside. Wash, North, secure that hallway. South, see if you can access the leader's location, we don't leave without him".

"Got it, I'm already on it!" South said as she heads of.

"CT, get me-" Carolina began until she noticed they were missing someone "Where the **hell** is CT?!".

Pyrrha looked around, then she remembered Wash telling her once hat CT had been talking to someone. He believed it was just a friend from her home. But their enemies knew more about them than they should... and Pyrrha had learned about the transmissions that were not allowed by The Director. If CT had been in contact with anyone then...

"No... she wouldn't" Pyrrha whispered in disbelief. CT was her friend, she wouldn't do this... she wouldn't.

* * *

CT landed on the outside of a the ship. She hops down a hole in the ship then proceed down a hallway and opens a door where many Insurrectionists are waiting.

"Intruder, get him! Open fire!" The Insurrectionists fire at CT and A hologram evaporates.

"Stand down" The Insurrectionist Leader walks forward in front of his soldiers. CT jumps down from the ceiling behind the two minor Insurrection soldiers and knocks them down, taking one of their weapons. She points an Assault Rifle at the Insurrectionist Leader. But then a blade pressed against her neck.

"Don't even think about it" It was Blake, she was here to protect her Leader.

"It's alright Blake. She's with us" The Leader said.

"Sir?" Blake asked in confusion.

"Remember when I told you I had friends on the other side? Connie has been feeding us information for months now. We can trust her" The Leader explained.

Blake hesitated before removing her blade "A Freelancer on our side. Who could've guessed?".

"I don't blame you for being surprised" CT said before looking back at the leader "You didn't wait for me to start? I'm hurt".

She tosses her rifle to the Leader who catches it "I was worried about you. Didn't think you be able to get away".

"You don't know the half of it. They stepped up production. Here" CT hands a datapad to the Leader "The ship was captured by the enemy. I'm surprised there's anything left in the data banks".

"Ha, not everybody follows protocol you should know that better than anyone" The Leader said as he walks over to a computer.

"You really think they found another artifact? How could nobody have discovered that when they were processing the wreckage?" CT asked.

"They didn't know where to look, and they didn't have what you have" The Leader answered.

"Sir, we're in position, awaiting your signal" A Soldier said.

"Is it time sir?" Blake asked.

"Oh yeah. Time for some payback. They will pay for all our good comrades that they slaughtered during their heist" The Leader declared.

Blake was looking forward to that more than she should.

* * *

Back in the hangar, Carolina and South are talking to one another. Carolina tosses her Gravity Hammer away. In the background, York screams as he hits a floating Warthog and spirals away.

"What do you mean the leader's not here?" Carolina demanded.

"Exactly what I said. His last check in is upstairs in the main deck, but his call sign just appeared in their internal frequencies. He's broadcasting from out in Bone Valley" South explained.

"Meaning he's not here?" Carolina asked.

South gave her a look "Gee, you're starting to sound like a broken record".

"That would explain the lack of enemy soldiers. If he was here, there should've been at least twice as many" Pyrrha said.

"Fine. Change of plans everyone. We're heading into the junkyard" Carolina instructed as she and the rest all file up in a line and prepare to leave "This is beginning to feel more and more like a setup".

Pyrrha kept thinking about CT. She knew CT was less... idealistic than the rest and had a rather cold personality. But she wouldn't betray them like this. The Connie she knew would never do this... she wouldn't.

Suddenly, York crash lands inside the main hangar with a jetpack on his back. The Freelancers turn their heads towards him, in response to his sudden arrival.

York drops his legs and sits up "Ugh! You would not believe the time I had getting back. It's nuts out there!".

"Let's go, people" Carolina and South take off on their jetpacks and exit the hangar.

"What? No welcome back?" York asked as North walks towards him and pats him on the back

"Alright, welcome back" North takes off on his jetpack and exits the hangar.

"Where are they off to in such a hurry?" York asked.

Wash and Pyrrha walks up and helps him up with Wash speaking "Found the leader. He's hiding out in Bone Valley".

"We're going all the way over there? After what happened to Georgia?" York asked in surprise.

"Would someone please tell me what happened to Georgia?!" Wash demanded.

"Dude, you do not want to know" York said as he takes off on his jetpack and exits the hangar, leaving Wash with Pyrrha.

"I really do though!" Wash insisted.

"Let it go Wash" Pyrrha said before taking of with her jetpack.

"But I want to know!" Wash shouts to no one.

* * *

Back with the Insurrectionists. It was not time to begin.

"Time to get out of here" The Leader and his two other Insurrectionist soldiers begin to leave. As the two soldiers continue to walk away, the Leader stops, turns around, and faces CT. He walks up to her and touches her shoulder "You too".

"I can't. Not yet" CT argued.

"If they weren't on to you before, they definitely will be now. Come with us Connie. I'm not gonna lose you over this" The Leader insisted.

"You should listen to him. If you go back to your murder friends, they will tear you apart" Blake said.

"They are not all killers" CT argued.

"I'm sure that is great comfort to all my dead friends" Blake said coldly.

"Calm down Blake. I promised you payback, and I will give it to you" The Leader said, this was enough to make Blake calm down and leave.

**"All forces we are go! I repeat, we are go!"** An insurrectionist said over the radio.

CT. walks away and leaves with the Insurrectionists. The Leader following her shortly after.

* * *

Back with the Freelancers, they were jet packing through space, searching for the leader. The more they looked, the more worried they became. Something was very wrong about this whole situation. CT disappearing, being unable to find the leader. This was no coincidence.

"I don't get it, everything stopped" Carolina said.

"Maybe they're retreating..." North said, but didn't sound to convinced himself.

"Nothing left out here but a bunch of junk" York said.

"They couldn't have escaped without at least somebody noticing them" Pyrrha said.

"Something is very wrong about this" Carolina mumbled.

At first it seemed liked things were calm and that they should start heading back... but then suddenly a large enemy ship emerges from hundreds of scrap metal pieces, going online, showing the reason they couldn't find it was because they had shut down their systems, allowing them to hide in the junk.

"It's a trap, they're hiding in the junkyard. Repeat, it's a trap!" Four Seven Niner shouts.

* * *

Inside the ship The Leader watched as the Mother of Invention moved in to evasive maneuvers "Fire".

The enemy ship fires at the Mother of Invention, hitting it several times. A battle between the two ships commence and Blake smiled as their ambush worked, those killers could barely even fight back. They had the upper hand this time. Those armored murder machines couldn't protect their leader this time.

"We're away sir, new course laid in. Are you sure you don't want to stay and finish this?" One of the soldiers asked.

The Leader smiled behind his helmet "Heh, I left our guests a present".

Blake smirked, knowing exactly what kind of present it was. She knew she shouldn't feel this good about killing so many. But after everything they've done to her and her friends. She just couldn't bring herself to feel any sympathy for them. They brought this on themselves, everything that happened now, was on them.

* * *

Back outside Four Seven Niner saw the present "Guys, get out of there, they've outfitted that piece of junk with nukes!".

The Mother of Invention turns into jet off postition and began to leave. The Freelancers noticed this and knew their time just got a whole lot shorter.

"Go! Go! Go!" Carolina shouts and The Freelancers increase their jet pack speed and head toward the dropship.

"Get inside now!" Their pilot souts as she opens the rear bay and all of the Freelancers, except Wash and Pyrrha, get in. As the Freelancers look out they notice Wash was still out there, while Pyrrha had almost reached them.

"Wash, what are you doing? Get in here, use your jet pack!" York shouts to him.

"I-I don't wanna end up like Georgia!" Wash cries out.

"You will end up worse than him if you don't get your ass inside!" Pyrrha said as she grabs him and used her jet back to pull him towards the pelican... but her jetpack was running low of fuel "Oh no! Carolina!".

"Hold on!" Carolina shoots her grappling hook and Pyrrha managed to grab it

"Huh? AHHH!" Wash screams as he pulled along with Pyrrha as they are slowly pulled towards the ship.

Carolina yanks the grappling hook in order to lead Wash and Pyrrha inside the Pelican. Carolina manages to pull them inside, with hitting the floor in the process. The Pelican's rear bay doors close and it jets off. The nuclear bomb slowly drifted into a piece of scrap metal. On contact it explodes and the Pelican barely managed to escape the explosion.

"Everyone okay back there?" Their Pilot asked.

"Never better, thanks for asking" York said sarcastically.

South storms up to Wash "What the fuck is wrong with you!? You nearly got yourself and Pyrrha killed!".

"I panicked! I'm sorry Pyrrha" Wash said as he looked Pyrrha was had to sit down due to exhaustion.

"It's ok Wash. What matters is that both of us made it" Pyrrha assured.

Carolina put a hand on her younger sister's shoulder "You sure you are ok?".

"I am a little rustier than I cared to admit. But I will be fine, I promise" Pyrrha said softly, putting her hand on Carolina's own.

Then the Director was heard over radio **"What the hell just happened people? Tell me you accomplished your mission".**

"Negative sir, their leader escaped" Carolina answered.

"Well, looks like the enemy lives to fight another day" North said in a tired tone.

"Again" South added.

**"That is most unfortunate. Are all agents accounted for?"** The Director asked.

The Freelancers look around. They all knew the answer to that question.

"All except CT, sir. She's gone" Carolina answered.

**"Define _gone_, agent"** The Director demanded.

Pyrrha remained silent. The Connie she knew could never do this... but now, she had a feeling she never knew Connie at all... the real CT.

**.**

**Tell me what you think.**


	11. Chapter 11

**The New Kid.**

Mother of Invention is flying through space. After the last mission, things were carrying on, but CT's absence was very noticeable. No one wanted to believe it, but it was getting more and more clear that someone they believed was their friend... was a deserter. Right now Wash and York staring downwards between North's legs. Why? Well he just advanced to the next stage of the Freelancer project.

"I expected it to be... bigger" Wash admitted.

"Why? You've seen mine. It's small too" York pointed out.

"Yeah, but he's green" Wash said.

York gave him a look "How does that even make sense?".

"Hey Wash, quit staring. You're making it nervous" North said.

"Yeah, it's just... they're so small!" Wash said, not being able to get over the fact how small it was.

"Small, yeah! But you wouldn't believe what it can do!" York said.

"Besides, you better get used to it. You're going to have one of your own, soon enough" North reminded.

South comes to see what they're all looking at and just scoffs "Give me a break".

As South walks away North spoke "It's alright Theta, come on out. People just want to say hello to you".

That is what this is all about. North had recently gotten his own AI, named Theta, a blue and red multi-colored AI, who was currently hiding behind North's left leg. Theta slowly peeked out and spoke in a child-like voice **"I don't know. There's so many of them. And they're so... big"**.

"See! I'm not the only one who thinks size is important" Wash said.

York shook his head "I'm just going to let that one go...".

"It's okay Theta. They're all friends of mine. For reasons beyond my comprehension" North said.

Theta appears above North's shoulder **"They're looking at me"**.

"That's because they want to meet you. This is York and Wash" North introduced his friends.

"Hey there little...computer...dude" Wash said a little awkwardly, not really knowing what else to say.

"Give it a rest, Wash. Theta, I have a friend just like you. His name is Delta" York said.

Theta appears in front of York **"Really?"**.

"Yeah. Here, you-you wanna say hello to him?" York asked.

North looked uncertain "Um...York?".

"It's okay, man. Just for a second" York assured.

Delta appears in front of York **"Hello Theta. I am Delta. It is nice to meet you"**.

Theta still seemed a little nervous "Hello".

"See? Everybody here is nice. Isn't that right, Delta?" North asked.

Delta looked at him **"Agent North, I do not feel qualified to make a judgement about humans with whom I have only limited experience. Also, "nice" is a rather subjective term for-".**

"Delta!" York cut him of, since he was clearly not helping with Theta's nervousness.

**"Oh yes. Everyone here is nice... within standard acceptable deviations"** Delta said.

"DELTA!" York said loudly.

"And that's my sister over there, South. We're twins" North said as he motioned to South, who was leaning against a wall, watching them.

**"I have a sister"** Theta said.

"You do?" Wash asked.

Theta nods **"We have many siblings"**.

"What do you mean by si-" Wash began but was interrupted by another voice.

"Hello everyone" The Director and Counselor enter the room. The Freelancers line up and Theta disappears "I hope you're ready to begin our test. Delta! I believe you know the protocol about communicating directly with other AI units".

**"I apologize sir. I will log off"** Delta said.

"Don't! I want you to help administer the test. Gentlemen, if you will take the floor" The Director ordered.

Theta appears in front of North who spoke "Ok, just like we practiced".

**"Are they all going to watch?"** Theta asked.

"Of course! They want to see if you're as good as i said you are" North said.

**"Really? Well, I guess that's okay"** Theta said.

"That's the spirit! Come on, let's do this!" North said as They exit to the training floor

"Delta, I expect you to follow protocol at all times" The Director said in disapproval.

**"We were only attempting to make the new unit more comfortable"** Delta said, as close to defensive as he could get.

"It's my fault, sir. I asked him to. New kid seems kind of shy" York said.

The Counselor walked up "Agent North was paired with Theta for a reason. His nurturing nature is best suited to care for Theta's...unique personality".

"Yeah. He is used to looking out for people, isn't he?" York said as he glances at South

The Counselor nods "Quite. Delta, your skills are more... analytical in nature".

**"If I may disagree, Theta has made double the number of declarative statements since my appearance. That indicates 100% increase in confidence since we modified our interaction strategy. I think that speaks volumes to my caring algorithms"** Delta said.

The Counselor almost looked amused "You make an excellent point, Delta. Let's begin the test".

Delta disappears. Down to the training floor the Freelancers watch from an above window as North enters the floor with a sniper rifle in hand.

"Begin the test" The Director ordered.

Theta appears above North's surround North and open fire. Immediately, a Domed Energy Shield activates around North protecting him from the bullets. The test was underway.

"As you may recall, Agent North used his equipment in the field on a previous mission" The Counselor said.

Delta Appears **"He was able to successfully maintain the deflective shield for 3.4 seconds in order to block an explosive projectile attack"**.

"And he somehow managed not to kill himself in the process" The Director said.

**"The maneuver only had a 1% chance of success. Had he performed it 999 more times, I'm rather certain he would've been obliterated on each one" **Delta said.

"Hey, I'd rather be lucky than good any day" York said.

"You usually are" Wash said.

"Luck will only take one so far. I am in the business of getting results. Let's see what Theta can do. Delta, reduce shield strength by 50%" The Director ordered.

**"Modifying" **Delta said.

The Domed Energy Shield surrounding North and Theta begins to flicker, signalling the cut in power. The real part of the test was about to begin.

"Power dropping! Theta, use remaining power to compensate for critical tiles!" North ordered.

**"Okay" **Theta takes control of the Domed Shield and separates it into tiles, blocking the turrets' incoming fire.

"Add variables" The Director ordered.

**"Acknowledged"** Delta said.

The turret beams begin to gyrate, moving around and above North and Theta. Theta follows the turrets and maintains critical shield tiles where they are needed, not a single bullet even came close to hitting North.

"Great job, Theta!" He praised.

**"Stop talking to me! You'll mess me up!"** Theta said.

"Right. Sorry" North said a little sheepishly.

"Reset" The director said and the floor resets and the Domed Energy Shield becomes fully restored to 100% power "Agent North. Your objective now is to eliminate all targets" More turrets appear "Begin".

"I thought the shield works both ways. There's no way for him to attack" Wash said as the turrets began to fire.

"Theta, analyze turret rate of fire. Adjust shield to match" North instructed.

**"Okay...Done"** Theta said.

North took aim "Firing. On my mark".

Theta **"Ready!".**

"Mark!" North fires his sniper and the bullet moves towards the shield, looking like it was about to hit, which could spell disaster. But then the shield flickers open just enough for North's sniper bullet to pass through and then immediately reseals. The bullet takes out a turret. North and Theta repeat this method for the remaining turrets, successfully destroying all of them.

**"All targets eliminated"** Delta said.

"Test complete. Excellent work!" The Director said as the Domed Shield deactivates.

"WOHOW! WOW! That was incredible!" Wash cheered.

"HAHA YEAH! What did I tell ya?" York said in excitement.

"And we're sure they don't get any bigger?" Wash asked jokingly.

"Dude, you are killing me with that!" York said in good humor.

South shook her head, still she wondered what Pyrrha was doing. She figured her redheaded friend would've wanted to see this, given Pyrrha herself was a prime candidate for an AI partner.

* * *

As for Pyrrha herself, she was sparring with Carolina. Pyrrha was still a little rusty during the last mission so she needed train more to brush it of. Both were out of their armors, and was wearing simple work out clothes. Both sisters were facing of for a few seconds before Carolina launched a kick, which Pyrrha managed to block and she pushed her sister's leg away, before blocking a punch. Pyrrha retaliated with a spinning back kick, but Carolina blocked it before grabbing her leg and throwing her away. But Pyrrha flipped through the air and managed to land perfectly on her feet.

"Nice. Seems like that rust is coming of" Carolina said with a smile.

Pyrrha smiled back "Maybe, but we're not done yet".

Carolina nods and got ready again. Pyrrha attacked first delivering a series of kicks which Carolina managed to expertly block. Pyrrha then tried to punch her, but Carolina managed to grab her arm before twisting it and then flipped Pyrrha over and made her land on her back with a painful grunt. This would signal Carolina as the winner of their spar.

"Sorry little sister. You still have some ways to go before you can beat me" Carolina said as she offers her sister a hand up.

Pyrrha accepted the hand "I don't think that is ever going to happen. You will always be better at hand to hand than me".

"Pyrrha, you are looking down on yourself way to much. You need to be more confident" Carolina said.

"I know. But confidence isn't something I have a lot of" Pyrrha said.

Carolina could tell something else was troubling you her younger sister "Ok Pyrrha spit it out. What is bothering you?" Pyrrha didn't answer "Is it about CT?".

"You mean Connie, I always hated that she wanted to be called CT. But yes, I am thinking about her" Pyrrha said.

Carolina noticed a look in Pyrrha's face that she did not like "Pyrrha... you are not blaming yourself for this, right?".

Pyrrha gritted her teeth "And what if I am? I completely failed to notice we had a traitor walking among us".

"Pyrrha, you are not being fair to yourself. Non of us knew she would just disappear on us like this" Carolina said as she put a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder.

"But I should've noticed!" Pyrrha snapped as she brushed Carolina's hand away "She's been acting strange for weeks now. Wash even told me he caught her talking to someone, but didn't see who. I brushed it of, thinking she was just making a secret call to a loved one. But turned out she must've been feeding information to the enemy... I thought I knew her, Carolina... I thought I was her friend...".

"Pyrrha..." Carolina said silently.

"But it turns out... I didn't know her at all. And now I don't think I was ever her friend. I was just another obstacle, standing in the way of her and her secret mission. I am sick of this, Carolina. All this violence, all this trust issues. All this filtering to see who is better than who. I don't want to be better than everyone else, Carolina. I just want to be my own person, who's worth isn't decided by a fucking ranking system! I am sick of all of this!" Pyrrha said, loosing her cool by the moment.

"Pyrrha!" Carolina said loudly.

Pyrrha snapped out of her anger and covered her mouth in shock "Oh my god... I-I'm sorry Carolina. I didn't mean to say that! I don't even know why I said it! This is not me... It can't be me".

Carolina did the one thing any good sister would do, she pulled Pyrrha in to a strong hug "Easy, easy...".

Pyrrha hugged her back as she began to shake and sob "What is happening to me, Carolina? What is happening to me!?".

"It's ok, little sister. Everything will be ok" Carolina assured as she kissed Pyrrha's cheek and hugged her closer. She dropped her normally serious and focused nature. Right now, Pyrrha didn't need a harsh reality check from her superior. She needed comfort from her older sister.

As the two sisters hugged, South was hiding behind a corner. She heard everything and it was clear if the Director found out about Pyrrha's sudden emotional break down, he would take her of active duty without second thought. So South decided no one else needed to know for now.

But she would be keeping a much closer eye on Pyrrha from now on. Much closer.

**.**

**Tell me what you think.**


	12. Chapter 12

**What's the "I" Stand for?**

At the Mother of Invention, inside a classroom-like room. Pyrrha, Wyoming, North and South, York, Carolina, Maine and Washington, all helmetless, sit with Delta, Theta and Sigma at desks. While The Counselor and the Director stand at the front of the room. They were receiving information on the AI Theories. All were listening closely, but South looked really disinterested in what they were being told. Pyrrha was a little worried, South had not been herself recently, and she was not showing any signs of improving her attitude. That could be bad.

The Counselor was currently explaining things to them "And as the Director accurately predicted in his thesis on the subject, we see that cognitive impression modeling can be separated from the host. Naturally, this remains an inherently deconstructive process. But most of all, the biggest concern of any full A.I. entity is the prospect of rampancy, which we covered last week".

"Of course our AI units are what we call fragments, so there's very little chance that a personality subroutine can run off unchecked" The Director added.

"Are there any questions?" The Counselor asked.

"Yeah, I got a question. Why do we need to learn all this stuff?" South asked in a rude tone.

"AI theory is like vehicle maintenance, South. If we're going to use this equipment, any equipment, we need to know how to care for it" Carolina answered.

"Oh yeah, Like a coffee maker or a vacuum cleaner" South said. Making Pyrrha, who was sitting next to her, look at her in concern.

**"Uh..."** Theta began, not sure how to respond to that.

**"That was rather rude"** Delta said.

"Oh, cry me a river, lightbulb" South dismissed the AI's complaint.

"No, not the same as that" Carolina said calmly.

"I don't even have one because someone didn't bring enough to share, so why am I sitting through this elementary classroom bullshit?" South demanded, and Pyrrha was getting more worried, South was pretty much begging for a demotion at this point.

"I don't have one either, South" Carolina pointed out.

"Nor do I" Pyrrha added.

"Well in Carolina's case it's only because she gave hers to Maine" York said.

"He needed to be able to communicate after his injury" Carolina explained. Her tone was calm, but Pyrrha could tell she wasn't happy about having to do that.

"Oh yeah. That's the only reason you did it. You're a real hero, Carolina. It's not like Maine has much to say anyway" South said rudely, making North shake his head at his sister's behavior. Had she not been Pyrrha's best friend, she would've been tempted to slap her for that.

Maine growls before his AI, Sigma, spoke up **"I would like to say just how appreciative the two of us are for Carolina's sacrifice. Agent Carolina, if anyone can excel without an A.I. unit, it is you"**.

Carolina smiled at him "Thank you, Sigma".

**"And Agent Texas of course. That goes without saying"** Sigma added.

Carolina smile quickly faded "Right".

"I notice she doesn't have to attend class" South said, sounding like a whining child.

"South, enough already" Pyrrha said, actually starting to sound annoyed at South's childish attitude.

"Agent Texas doesn't need this training" The Director said simply.

The Counselor quickly spoke up to elaborate on what The Director was saying "What the Director is trying to say is that Agent Texas has already completed her AI theory course work. I think that's enough for today".

Everyone were about to leave until Sigma spoke **"If I may, Counselor. I have just one last question".**

"Oh, come on" York said in annoyance as they all sat back down.

**"On the different levels of AI awareness and rampancy"** Sigma began.

The Counselor began to list different levels "Melancholia, anger-".

**"Specifically in the fourth stage of rampancy"** Sigma cut in.

"Meta-stability" The Counselor said.

**"Yes, the meta stage, in which an A.I. can be considered fully human"** Sigma said.

"That is only theoretical, Sigma. No A.I. has ever achieved such a state" The Counselor said.

**"But it is possible"** Sigma pointed out.

The Counselor looked at him "In theory, but-".

**"But possible. I find that very interesting"** Sigma interrupted. Pyrrha was wondering why Sigma seemed so insistent on discussing this. No other AI had behaved like this before. Sigma was different.

"Remember, Sigma, you're not even a full A.I. You are what we call a fragment, so something of that magnitude would be even more difficult for an entity such as yourself" The Counselor explained calmly.

**"Well, as the Director always says, it is important to have ambition" **Sigma reminded.

"Why yes it is. Class is dismissed" The Director said.

The Freelancers and Theta leave. Delta prepares to follow, but stops as Sigma watches the board at the front of the room.

**"Sigma, are you coming?" **He asked his fellow AI.

**"Yes, yes. We will be joining you shortly"** Sigma said and Delta leaves.

The board at the front of the room cycles though several symbols made of combined Greek letters before stopping on a particular combination.

* * *

Once outside, Pyrrha ran after South who was walking "Hey! What the hell was that!?".

"You will have to be more specific" South said simply as she continued walking.

Pyrrha grabbed her shoulder and turned her around "You know damn well what I am talking about, South. What's with your attitude all of a sudden? You've always had a short fuse, but you were acting like one of those kids who think they don't need to learn anything".

"What about it?" South asked, clearly not thinking that she did anything wrong.

"Look, I know we don't have AI's yet. But the time might come when we will get one. And while the class could be boring, isn't it better to know what you could be in for before you get in to it?" Pyrrha asked.

"If I ever get an AI that is. It's clear only those on the high end of the leader board will get one" South said.

"Don't say that, South. Even if he is prioritizing those on the top of leader board, it doesn't mean you won't get one" Pyrrha said.

"Whatever you say, Pyrrha. Now can I leave? Or are you going to continue with this little lecture?" South asked.

"Lecture? I am only saying this because I am worried about you South. Why do you insist on pushing everyone's limit like this? The Director already has little patience with you. Are you trying to make him so angry that he will punish you?" Pyrrha asked.

"Alright, I am done listening now" South said and was about to leave.

Pyrrha grabbed her arm "Like hell you are! What has gotten in to you South? Is this because Connie left us?".

South growled a little "Now why would I be upset about that traitor?".

"She was our friend. It hurt a lot to learn she left us like that. But that's no reason to-" Pyrrha began until South smacked her hand away from her arm.

"Alright enough of this bullshit already! God, and I thought North could be to nagging. You are not my mom or my sister, Pyrrha. It's not your fucking business to butt in like this" South snapped.

Pyrrha took a step back, looking hurt "I know that... I was just trying to help a friend... but if you really don't want it then... I will back of".

South's face softened a little at Pyrrha's defeated expression and she sighed "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. It's just... a lot of shit going on, ya know?".

"I know. I will give you some space" Pyrrha said and was about to leave but South stopped her.

"Pyrrha, just because I get pissed some times, it doesn't mean I don't love you" South said.

Pyrrha blinked "Lo-".

Before she could finish South kissed her right on the lips. Pyrrha's eyes became wide in both shock and surprise. What was happening!? She was being kissed by her best friend! This was the last thing she ever expected.

South pulled back and smirked at Pyrrha's expression "Damn, I'm such a good kisser that I left you speechless? Well those were some soft lips you got Pyrrha. Well, gotta go. I will see that cute ass of yours later".

South walked away, leaving Pyrrha utterly stunned. Did that just happen? Sure she always knew South cared about her, but Pyrrha always believed they had more of a best friend relationship, almost like sisters. Pyrrha brushed her lips. Now she had no clue what to do.

"Something wrong?" Pyrrha nearly jumped out of her armor before turning around and saw Wash standing there.

"Oh, hello Wash. How long have you been standing there?" Pyrrha asked.

"I just showed up. What's the matter? You look really flustered" Wash said.

"It's nothing... well actually that is a lie. Tell me Wash, how are you when it comes to... well, love?" Pyrrha asked.

Wash tipped his head "Love? Well that depends on what kind of love you are talking about".

"Romantic love" Pyrrha said.

"Oh... well I am not a master on the concept. But romance is just a normal part of life" Wash said.

"And... is it possible for love to exist between the same gender?" Pyrrha asked.

Wash looked at her for a moment "You really are new to this, aren't you?".

"Well training to become a soldier left little time to learn other stuff" Pyrrha said.

"Well, to answer your question. Yes, it is possible for romance to bloom between the same gender. Some call people like that either gay or lesbian. But the more appropriate word is Homosexual, which can be used for both men and women" Wash explained.

"But is it normal?" Pyrrha asked.

"That fully depends on who you're asking. Some think it is normal, and some think it's not. There are even people called Homophobes, who actively opposes Homosexuality. Bunch of assholes if you ask me" Wash explained before he looked back at Pyrrha "But if you are asking for my personal opinion. I have no issues with homosexual people, love is love".

"Thought you said you weren't an expert on this" Pyrrha said.

"I'm not, just read it once because I was bored. Still, why did you even ask about it? Are you falling in love with someone?" Wash asked.

Pyrrha blushed bright red "Oh would you look at the time! I am late for one of my sparring sessions with Carolina. See you around Wash, and thank you".

Pyrrha ran away and Wash looked confused "Was it something I said?".

If only he knew.

* * *

Some time later, at a longshore shipyard, a seagull lands on a submerged helmet before being sniped the Insurrection sniper. A little later, Wyoming surfaces along with Florida, both spying on the Insurrectionists at the shipyard.

Wyoming looks up and saw a Falcon flying by "Well, third craft this afternoon. Let's see who else is arriving".

CT and the Insurrectionist Leader disembark from the Falcon.

"It's her" Demo Man said.

"I can't believe he trusts that bitch after what she did to us" The female soldier, nick named Girlie, said in spite.

"It can not be helped" Blake said as she walked up next to them, having arrived earlier than the leader "We don't have to trust her, we only need to trust our leader. If that ex-freelancer can help us win against those murderers, then that's fine with me".

"Don't worry kitty. They will all pay soon" Demo Man said.

"I told you to stop calling me that" Blake said in annoyance. Her eyes resembled at cats, so that owed her the nick name Kitty.

"There she is" Wyoming said as he looks through the scope of his rifle, CT gazes out in his direction "Come in, Command. Tell the Director she's here".

"What is it?" The Leader asked CT

"It's nothing...come on" CT said.

The two continue walking, but not before the Leader glances back out toward the ocean. He had a feeling it wasn't nothing. Maybe it was time to start making preparations.

"Welcome back, sir. Everything is going smoothly here" Blake said.

"Good. Come with me Blake, I will need you for the next part" The Leader instructed.

"Yes, sir" Blake said before looking at her friends "Catch you all later".

"Of course. I saved some beer for us. A whole days work warrants a nice refresher" Girlie said.

Blake smiled "As long as there are no alcohol in them. See you soon".

Blake walked away with the Leader and CT. Having no idea this day was going to take a drastic change real soon.

**.**

**Tell me what you think.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Oversight and a big decision.**

Time was moving forward as everyone were slowly preparing for what could be their final battle against the Resistance. At the Mother of Invention the Director and Counselor were discussing the results of their latest tests. Both had been quite busy recently, with everything that's been going on.

"Congratulations, Director. Another successful test" The Counselor said.

"Another fragment was harvested this morning, Counselor. Find it a match" The Director said.

The Counselor looked at him in surprise "This morning? That is ahead of schedule".

"Our time grows short, find it a match" The Director ordered.

Suddenly, Carolina walks in "Director, Wyoming reported in".

The Director looked at her "And?".

"You won't like what he found, sir" Carolina warned.

"Agent Carolina, information never displeases me. It's ignorance that I find unforgivable. Report" The Director ordered.

"It's like you said...CT is with them" Carolina said, her tone making it clear she wished the words she spoke were not true.

The Director narrowed his eyes behind his glasses "You know what to do. I do not need to remind you how valuable our technology is, Carolina".

"She doesn't have an AI, sir. And she wasn't exactly the best agent" Carolina reminded.

"C.T. will be an acceptable loss" The Director said, almost making Carolina glare at him "But her armor must not fall into the wrong hands".

"I understand. Will we be the only forces sent out on this mission, sir?" Carolina asked.

The Director Leans forward on the table as he raised his voice "Leave personnel decisions to me, agent. Just do your job! It's time to cut the head off the enemy once and for all!"

"Yes, sir" Carolina said, not remembering the last time her father ever raised his voice at her like this. She glances up at Tex's name on the top of the leaderboard before leaving.

* * *

In mess hall, Theta was showing North holographic fireworks "That's really great, Theta!".

"Thank you! I worked super hard on it!" Theta said as South walks by and sees the two of them.

"Ugh!" South scoffed then leaves. York and Delta sit down at the table in front of North.

"Hey Theta! You mind if I talk to North for a second?" York asked.

Theta looked at him "Uhh...okay".

"Need you to shut down while we chat, okay? Delta too. You know, it's the rules" York said and Delta shuts down,

"North?" Theta asked unsure.

"It'll be okay. I won't talk too long" North assured.

"Alright" Theta said before he walks in to North's hand and shuts down.

"What's up?" North asked.

"I need to ask you about something" York answered.

"Uh, okay. Shoot" North said.

"I need to ask you about the Alpha" York said.

Pyrrha who happened to walk by stopped when she heard this. She looked at South and held up one finger to tell her she would just be a moment.

North leans forward "Where did you hear that word?".

"Same place you heard it..." York said as he points to his head "Up here".

Wash shows up his voice slightly muffled while holding a beverage "What's an Alpha?".

"Wash...are you eating inside your helmet?" York asked.

"Maybe. Delta said they got the helmet waste disposal out of beta. That it would make my eating more efficient" Wash said.

"Haha, and you believed that? Maybe he is getting more personable" York said.

"What's this about an Alpha?" Pyrrha asked, causing the men to look up at her "Sorry. Mind if I join you for a bit?".

"By all means, take a seat" York offered.

Pyrrha took a seat next to him "Thank you. So who is an Alpha?".

"It's not an Alpha, kid, it's the Alpha. Theta thinks about him a lot. More than thinks, really. He's obsessed" North answered.

"Delta too. You know how all the units call each other brother? They call this one father. No...that's not right" York said as he thinks.

"Creator" North finished for him.

York nods "Yeah".

"I thought the Director would be their creator" Wash said, still with his mouth full.

"Haven't you been paying any attention in class? A.I.s aren't created; they're copies of someone" York explained.

"But our A.I.s are just fragments" North pointed out.

"Which begs the question...where's the original?" York asked.

"So this Alpha thing is what, creates the fragments?" Wash asked, still with his mouth full.

"Wash, do you have any table manners? Swallow!" Pyrrha ordered.

Wash swallows "It creates them?".

"Yeah, Theta isn't clear. It creates them...or something" North said.

"Yeah, it's the or something part that has me worried" York said.

"Why? You think something will happen to the AIs?" Pyrrha asked.

"I don't know. Hopefully it's nothing... but if it is something, I'd like to know what it is" York answered.

Pyrrha thinks for a moment "Maybe I should try getting an AI. Maybe then we can work together and find out what Alpha is, and what is happening".

"I'm sure you have a good chance at that Pyrrha. Just be careful, ok?" North said.

"Don't worry about me. Well, see you latter" Pyrrha said as she got up and headed to South.

"What was that about?" South asked.

"Just some AI talk" Pyrrha answered as she sat down.

South scoffed "Right. That's about the only thing people can talk about these days".

"Well I you don't want to talk about that. Maybe we can talk about that little thing you did" Pyrrha suggested.

"You mean the kiss?" South asked with a wink.

Pyrrha blushed "Yes... that".

"What about it? You didn't like it?" South asked.

"That's not it at all. It's just... you and me have been best friends for so long, and then you just kiss me out of the blue. It just left me really confused" Pyrrha explained. South was her best friend, and Pyrrha never had a reason to suspect South would do something like that. She looked around to make sure no one was listening "South... are you... well...".

"In love with you? What is I said yes?" South asked as she leans forward a little.

Pyrrha blushed again "Well... why?".

"You really don't know much about love, do you?" South asked.

"I know the basics. What I want to know is why you would be in love with me" Pyrrha said.

"Well, you are cute and a joy to be with. I'm sure I am not the only one who's had a crush on you. Though most other might not have made a move due to who you are" South explained.

"What do you mean by that?" Pyrrha asked.

South facepalms "Pyrrha... for being a genius when it comes to fighting, you are a complete moron in other areas".

"What?" Pyrrha asked, sounding offended.

"Pyrrha, you are at the very least the third best fighter in the whole project. I keep hearing you have the potential to be more skilled than even Carolina. And the only thing that kept you of the leaderboard was your passive nature of trying to avoid killing. Something you have overcome now. People will believe you are to good for them. That you are on a level they simply can't reach. In short, they believe they are unworthy of you" South explained.

Pyrrha let her words sink in before finally picking up some food "So what made you come forward?".

"Let's just say, I am a little bolder than those wimps. And I was not going to let them beat me to the punch" South said before she moved her foot from under the table and tapped Pyrrha's crotch with it.

Pyrrha gasped in surprise. But she had foot in her mouth and it ended up getting stuck in her throat. She quickly got out of her seat as she was starting to choke. South noticed her mistake and was about to get up to help her. But someone showed up behind her and gave her a hard pat on her back, causing the food to fly out of her mouth.

Pyrrha coughed a few times as she struggled to regain her breath "Th-thank you...".

"You're welcome" Came a familiar voice.

Pyrrha turned around and saw who it was "Tex? What are you doing here? Other than saving me?".

"Was just passing through, would be a shame if your promising career ended due to food" Tex said before walking away.

Pyrrha watched her leave and South spoke "Wow. The best freelancer is your guardian angel".

Pyrrha glared at her "What the hell was that!? I almost choked because of you!".

South held up her hands in surrender "Sorry sorry!".

Everyone in the mess hall had no idea what was going on. And that might be for the best.

* * *

Later Pyrrha was walking down the halls. She still had some time before the mission was going to start, so she decided to take the chance to speak to her father. She had made a big choice, but she would need her father's permission to go through with it. If he says no, then that's it. She stopped at the door that lead to the room her father was currently in. She took a deep breath before going inside, where she found her father and the Consular going over a few things.

"Sorry to disturb you sir" Pyrrha spoke, making the two men look up at her.

"Agent Greece, what is it? You are due to leave for your mission soon" The Director said.

Pyrrha really wish her father would use her real name instead of her code name, but that wasn't the issue right now "I... I need to ask something of you... something big".

The Director raised an eyebrow in curiosity "Oh? And what would that be?".

Pyrrha strengthened herself for a moment before looking up with as much determination she could muster "I want an A.I.".

Both men looked surprised by her request and The Consular was the one to speak "This is an unexpected development. May I ask why you suddenly want one? You never showed much interests in A.I.s before".

"Things have changed. I realize now if I want to be the best soldier I can be, I will need every advantage I can get. And after seeing what a major difference an A.I. can make, it's clear I will never reach my full potential without one. And last thing I want is to say back as everyone else leaves me behind" Pyrrha explained.

The Director was silent for a moment "Very well, Agent Greece. When we find an A.I. that is a good match for you, then you will be informed and prepped for the surgery".

"Thank you sir. I promisse you I will not fail" Pyrrha said in relief. She had no idea what she would've done if her father said no.

"I highly doubt you will fail, now that you've gotten over that naive weakness of yours. But just so you know, having an A.I. will come with many new responsibilities. And you better be prepared for them" The Director said.

"I will, Sir" Pyrrha said.

"Good. Now get moving. Your mission will begin soon" The Director ordered.

Pyrrha nods before leaving. Once she got outside she bumped in to Carolina, making her stop dead in her tracks.

"Oh, hello sis... did you, hear that?" Pyrrha asked.

"Every word. You sure about this Pyrrha? A.I.s are not like any equipment we normally use" Carolina said.

"I am aware. But there is no going back now. I made my decision, and I'm sticking to it" Pyrrha declared.

Carolina sighed "I hope you won't regret this decision. But we can talk more about it later. We need to leave for our mission, now".

Pyrrha nods and the two sisters walk away to begin their mission... Pyrrha knew what she had done, and how it might effect her going forward. She really hoped she made the right choice.

**.**

**You can thank Death Battle and Red Vs Blue Zero for this. The Death Battle was fun and the first episode of Zero was epic! So far so good, hope it keeps it up.**

**.**

**Tell me what you think.**


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